Tia's Story Book 2
by bowmaiden
Summary: In this sequel to my first book we follow O/C survivor Tia Samuels through season 2, uncovering more of her past with her broken family, and her life on the Island as she opens the hatch, meets a mysterious new Islander named Henry Gale, discovers "The Others", and finds new friends in the tail section survivors of the plane. More island adventures await you and Tia in Book 2!
1. Day 44: I Told You So

I look into the endless abyss of the hatch. Hurley stands behind me muttering something. Kate walks over and kneels down beside me, checking out the hole.

"What is it?" she asks.

"It doesn't matter what it is," says Jack, standing up. "We blew the door so we could get everyone inside this thing so we could be safe. That plan is not going to work. We'll never get everyone down in time."

Locke picks up a rock and drops it into the hole. It falls and falls until, finally…_splash_.

"Water," I note.

"It's shallow," Locke agrees. "It sounds like a puddle."

"Forty feet down?" Kate asks.

"Fifty tops," Locke says, standing up. "If we could use the wire we pulled from the fuselage to rig up a harness—,"

"John," Jack says, cutting him off. "We're leaving now."

"Yes, good idea. Let's do that," Hurley approves from behind me.

"We all went through a lot to get here, Jack," Locke protests.

"The ladder's broken," Jack points out. "You going to lower forty people down there one by one? They're waiting for us to come back and tell them what to do, so let's forget about the harnesses."

"I'm with Jack. We need to get back to camp." I say.

"Why don't we all just calm down here," Locke says.

"Look, if you want to go exploring in the morning that's fine, but tonight we're done," says Jack. "I'm going to go get the dynamite that we didn't use and we're heading back to the caves. How about you pack it up, John?"

"Sure, of course," he says, conceding.

"Okay," says Jack, nodding his head.

"Why don't you want to go down there, Jack?" Locke asks as Jack walks toward the rigged backpack. Jack doesn't respond.

"Why'd you do that?" Hurley asks Locke. "Why'd you light the fuse, man?"

"Why wouldn't I light the fuse?" he asks, innocently.

"Ah, maybe because I was running towards you, waving my arms, yelling 'don't do that?'".

Locke chuckles. "Well, you've got a point there. I guess I was just excited to get inside. I mean, that's why we came here, isn't it? That's why we went all the way out to the Black Rock and why we got the dynamite to blow the hatch. And we did it so that we could get inside, Hugo."

"And to save everybody's lives," Jack counters.

"And to save everyone's lives," Locke repeats.

"Or," Jack starts. "Maybe it was just our destiny, right, John?"

"Maybe."

"That's not why I came," I say, staring at Locke. "I came so that I could see the look on your face when you've realized your giant mistake." I turn towards the group. "Why did none of you listen to me? So there's a long tunnel? We still don't know what's inside. We don't know if it's safe!"

"Hey, I told him to stop!" Hurley says back.

"Yes, thank you, Hurley. It took you long enough, b—,"

"Guys," Kate says, ending my rant. "It's the hatch door, you'd better see this."

We walk over to its charred remains. The word "quarantine" is printed on the back. As everyone stares, I look up. "I think I'm gonna count this as a win," I say smugly. "I'm headed to the caves. I've had enough of this." I start to walk away, but before I'm out of the fire's light I turn back around. "And John? Not to sound cliché, but I told you so." I turn back and start walking to the caves.

I know, I'm being kind of a bitch, but I've had it! I've had it with people making decisions around here without consulting the people it might hurt. Jack doesn't want to be a leader, but wants to make all of the decisions. Locke want to undermine everything I say. Boone died three days ago. Has everyone forgotten this? I'm so frustrated that I kick a rock, sending it flying through the trees until it's out of my flashlight's vision.

I've made it back to the caves and there's a commotion happening as I approach. I stay behind the tree line, not wanting to draw attention to myself and raise a ton of questions about where I've been and what the plan is. I listen as people talk.

"I know what I saw! It was him! It was Walt!" It's Shannon, yelling these words at the crowd of people.

"Shannon, please lower your voice," Sayid tells her. "You'll upset the rest of the group."

"I heard whispers," she says.

"Where?" Claire asks, holding her baby.

"Everywhere."

"What whispers? Who?" asks Charlie.

"I don't know," Shannon says. "Them."

Everyone starts chattering at this "Do you think something happened to the raft?" Sun asks, sounding worried.

"Nothing happened to the raft," Sayid insists. "Walt is with your husband, with Sawyer—,"

"Sayid, I know what I saw," Shannon says, frustrated.

I hear rustling behind me. "They're back," Charlie says, noticing Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke and I coming out of the trees together, even though we arrived separately.

* * *

**Thank you for starting Book 2! This is such a fun thing for me to do with my time and I'm glad you enjoyed the first one enough to continue with Tia on her adventures. If you haven't read Book 1 I highly suggest it. You can visit my profile to find it. **

**These chapters are going to be much longer than the first book's, I expect. So with that being said updates may take a bit longer. Instead of spanning 44 days, this book will only span a little over 20, so...you can do the math!**

**Thank you all for reading and don't forget to shoot me a review!**


	2. Day 45: A Button That Saves The World

Everyone waits for us to say something. Jack makes his way to the caves, standing up on a rock so everyone can see him.

"Uh, Locke found, uh, a hatch in the ground about a half a mile from here," he says, nervously. "We left to…to blow it open so that we could hide inside. So all of us could hide inside, in case... But that doesn't matter now because it's not going to work. There's no way for all of us to get down in there tonight."

"Jack, where's Dr. Arzt?" Charlie asks.

"Um, he didn't make it."

"Did you see them?" Shannon asks. "Did you see the Others?"

"Hey, Shannon, there are no Others," Charlie says to her. "We've already had this conversation."

"What the hell would you know about it?" she yells at him. "Just because you didn't see anything!"

"There's no one out there!" Charlie insists.

"You don't know!" she screams back.

"Hey!" Jack yells, silencing them. "Everything's going to be okay. Let's just take it easy. We're going to be alright. We're going to stay here tonight, okay, together. We've still got five guns. We'll put lookouts at all the entrances. We're all going to be safe as long as we stay together. The sun comes up in three hours and we're all going to be here to see that happen. I promise." There's a rustling to the side of the crowd. Locke is going through a bunch of supplies. "John, what are you doing?" Jack asks.

"I'm getting some cable."

"What for?"

"It's for the hatch," Locke says, coiling up a bunch of cable into a circle. "I'm going in."

"Do you really think that's the smartest thing to do right now, John?" Jack asks.

"I doubt it," he replies. "In fact, you're right. The safest thing is to stay here. Wait for morning. Wait for these Others, to see if they ever show up. Wait for the brave folks on the raft to bring help. But me, I'm tired of waiting." Locke takes his coil of cable and heads back out to the hatch.

* * *

I see Sayid filling up a bottle of water. "Hey," I say, sitting down at the edge of the pool.

"So you opened the hatch," he says, without greeting. "What is inside?"

"I don't know. You can't see into the bottom. It's too dark. It's just a tunnel that runs about forty feet down. But, Sayid," I stress, making him look at me. "We were right not wanting to open it. On the other side of the door, the word 'quarantine' is stamped on the back."

"What did Jack say about that?"

"Same thing he told everyone else. That we'd wait until morning." Sayid nods his head, agreeing. "Sayid, what happened while I was gone? Why are Charlie and Shannon acting so strange?"

"Aaron was kidnapped by Rousseau."

"Who's Aaron?"

"Claire's son. She named him. Rousseau took him to the pillar of black smoke, which she had created herself. She lied about the Others to get to Claire's child."

"And Shannon?"

"She lost Vincent. She and I went looking for him, but we were separated for about three minutes. When I found her again she insisted she'd seen Walt in the jungle."

"Walt? But he's on the raft."

"I don't know what she saw, Tia. She's exhausted, she hasn't eaten."

I nod my head. "One more thing," I say. Sayid waits for me to continue. "I saw the Monster."

"What?" he says, confused.

"The Monster. The thing ripping up trees. I saw it. It tried to drag Locke down a hole in the ground."

"What is it?"

"You'll think I'm crazier than Rousseau."

"Try me."

"I giant column of black smoke, completely in control of itself." Sayid stares at me. "I told you you wouldn't believe me."

"Are you sure your mind wasn't just playing tricks?"

"Sayid, I saw it."

"Shannon sees Walt in the jungle. You see black smoke. I think we all just need to rest. It's been a long night."

I shake my head, frustrated with him. I was kind of starting to see myself as a team with Sayid. We agree most of the time, and he's normally on my side. Why won't he believe me?

* * *

I see Jack talking to Hurley and loading a gun from my spot in the caves. I look around and Kate is nowhere to be found. I walk over to him. "What are you doing?" I demand.

"Kate went after Locke down the hatch. I'm going after them."

"You're kidding, right?" Hurley asks, shocked. "You're going back?"

"Yeah," he says, finishing the gun.

"What about all that stuff you said about waiting 'til morning and watching the sun rise?" Hurley says.

"I changed my mind," he mutters.

"Jack!" I call, but he doesn't turn around. I run after and grab his shoulder. "Jack you're not going alone. You don't know what's down there."

"Back off, Tia," he says.

"Jack, I'm coming with you!" I say.

"No you're not!" he yells in my face.

I grab the nine-millimeter out of his hand. "I am not Kate," I say forcefully, looking into his eyes. "She may let you talk to her that way, but you are not the boss of me. If I want to come, I'm coming."

He looks at me, frustrated, then concedes. "Fine. But we need to hurry." He jogs back to the gun case and grabs another for himself. "Let's go."

* * *

When we get to the hatch, Locke and Kate are nowhere to be found. The wire that Locke took from the caves is in the hole. Jack grabs it and starts to pull it up. "Kate! Locke!" he calls down the hole, receiving no response.

He grabs two bits of ripped tee shirt from his bag and wraps them around his hands. "You're climbing down?" I ask him, startled.

"Unless you've got a better idea."

"Let me go first," I say. "I'm lighter than you."

"Tia, you're not going down there."

"Are we really gonna have this conversation again, Jack?" It takes a minute but he shakes his head. "Great," I say, wrapping my own hands in what's left from his ripped tee shirt. I grab the wire and tug on it, making sure it's strong enough for my weight.

"Why do you want to be here, Tia?" Jack asks me. "All you've been saying since you showed me this place was that it needed to be buried. Why go down there now?"

I hesitate. "Let's just say my curiosity has finally been sparked," I say. "Here we go." I start climbing down the hatch.

It's wet. The narrow walls of the tunnel are damp with water. Climbing down isn't too difficult. Jack belays me from above, shining a light down for me to see, but it doesn't do much good. Eventually I make it to the bottom. I flick my flashlight up at Jack twice, letting him know he can start coming down. I don't want to make any noise.

Jack lands down beside me, his flashlight already in hand. My gun is stuffed into the back of my jeans. Jack motions for me to walk behind him and I do. He points his light at a wall and a giant mural is illuminated. It's disturbing. Faces and numbers cover it and the faces don't look very pleasant.

The whole place is made of concrete with water dripping out of every nook and cranny. Jack pulls his gun out of his pants. As we move down the corridor, I start to hear a humming to my right side. Jack notices it too and he moves closer to the wall with me following. When his head is about a foot and a half away from the wall something happens.

"Jack," I whisper. "Your key." The key to the Halliburton gun case that he keeps tied around his neck is lifting into the air, like the wall is a giant magnet.

A mechanical something sounds behind us. Jack and I turn to it. My gun is still in my pants, but Jack's is almost lifted as he moves towards the sound. It's a small mirror in the corner of a concrete pipe.

"_Make you own kind of music, Sing your own special song, Make your own kind of music, Even if nobody else sings along_…"

The music plays loudly, filling the whole corridor with sound. My gun is instantly in my hands as I see Jack duck behind a wall. A bright light flashes in my face, blinding me.

I blink out the light, quickly adjusting. Jack is away from the wall in a separate room. I enter the room behind him and find it full of outdated machinery. Giant tape spinners and other things I couldn't identify. Jack makes his way to the center of the room, where there's a 1970's period computer sitting there, blinking a green light. Jack is about to touch the keyboard when…

"I wouldn't do that, Jack."

The music stops and an eerie silence follows. Locke stands at the edge of the entrance to this computer room. Jack points his gun at Locke.

"Where is Kate?" he asks. "Where the hell is—,"

A gun comes up from behind the wall, cocked and aimed at Locke's head.

"Move and I kill him," a Scottish voice says. "Put the gun down."

"Where's Kate?" Jack asks again.

"Jack, it's okay," Locke says.

"I said drop it!" the gunman yells.

Jack demands again, louder this time. "Where is Kate?"

"Jack, put down the gun," I say.

"I'm not putting anything!" he yells at me.

BOOM! "Do you want him to die?" the Scottish voice asks, his gun back on Locke head after he fired at the ceiling. "Put it down."

"Is this what you were talking about, Locke?" Jack says, gun still pointed at him. "Is this your destiny? All roads lead here?"

"Jack, calm down," Locke says.

The gunman moves from behind the wall to behind Locke. I can get a target on him now. I start to raise my own but he says, "Don't even think about it! Now, lower your gun or I'll blow his damned head off, brother!"

The gunman's face comes out of the shadows. "You," Jack says in recognition. Does he know this guy?

Before I can ask, the gunman says again "Lower your gun or I'll blow his damned head off."

"Where's Kate?" Jack asks for the third time. _Smack_. BOOM! The gunman falls to the ground, his gun discharging on the way down, its bullet, luckily missing a target. Kate stands behind him, retracting the butt of a rifle.

Jack and I run up to him. "Do not move!" Jack shouts, holding him down. I grab his gun that fell out of his hand, sticking it in my pants, while keeping the one in my hand held on him.

"Now, don't—," starts Locke.

"Don't what?" Jack yells.

"He's unarmed."

"He just had a gun pointed at your head!" I yell at Locke.

"What did you do?" the Scottish man says from the ground. "What did you do? We're all gonna die." I follow his eyes, which are staring at the computer. His stray bullet must have hit it, because it's smoking. "We're all gonna die. I have to fix it." He tried to get out of Jack's grip, but Jack holds him down.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Jack asks.

"Listen, if you do not let me up, we are going to die," Scotty insists.

"Stop moving or I swear to God..." Jack tells him.

"Look at the wall!" Scotty yells. I look up. A large box with black and white numbers reads "97:00". "You see that?! That's a timer! It's counting down! I've got to enter the code! I've got to push the button!"

"Or what?" Jack yells.

"Jack, you should let him up," Locke says.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jack yells at him, then turns back to Scotty. "Or what? What's going to happen?"

Scotty looks at Jack. "Do I know you?" he asks. Oh, so they do know each other.

"You two got him?" Jack says to me and Kate. Kate and I both nod "yes".

Jack let's Scotty up from the floor, who runs past me. I keep my gun pointed at his head as he fiddles with the computer. "Bastard," he mutters in frustration. He stops and starts walking into another part of the bunker. Kate and I follow him and he takes us to a room, suited as a living quarters with a sofa, a record player, even a lava lamp. Scotty starts shuffling through one of the large bookcases along the wall.

"I don't think you two need those guns," Locke says to Kate and I. She lowers her's but I keep mine pointed at Scotty. There's no way I'm listening to John Locke. "Whatever you're looking for, maybe I can help," Locke says to Scotty.

"Can you fix a computer?" he asks, turning around. Locke just shrugs his shoulders. "Then you can't help me, can you?"

"Sayid can fix a computer," Kate says.

"Get him. Go and get Sayid," Locke instructs.

"Can you get back up that rope?" I ask her.

"I won't have to, there's got to be a front door in this place," she says.

"Down the corridor to the left," Scotty tells her. "Be persistent, the wheel sticks." He finds a jar of mechanical looking bits. "Gotcha," he exclaims, running back to the computer.

I follow, gun still on his head as he sits down, setting the jar aside. But Jack grabs the jar, holding it away from Scotty.

"Now, you're going to tell me what's going on," Jack demands.

"Jack, we don't have time for—,"

"We're taking a time out," Jack says, cutting Locke off.

"Please, just let me—," Scotty insists.

"Look, you want to get to work? You're going to tell me how you got here."

"It was three years ago," Scotty says, standing up. "I was on a solo race around the world, and my boat crashed into the reef, and then Kelvin came."

"Kelvin?" I ask.

"Kelvin. He comes running out of the jungle. 'Hurry, hurry, come with me'. He brings me down here. The first thing he does, because there's beeping already, he types in the code, he pushes the button, and it stops. 'What was all that about?' I say. 'Just saving the world', he says.

"Saving the world?" Jack asks, skeptically.

"His words, not mine. So I started pushing the button, too. And we saved the world together for a while, and that was lovely. Then Kelvin died, and now here I am all alone. The end."

Jack hands the jar back to Scotty, who goes back to fiddling with the still-smoking computer. I decide to lower my gun. Scotty's too distressed to pull an attack.

"Don't tell me you believe this," Jack says to Locke. "This is crazy. You think that makes sense? Pushing a button? You're going to take his word for it?"

"His word is all we have, Jack," Locke says.

"You don't have to take my word for it," Scotty says, not looking up from his work. "Just watch the film."

"What?" I ask him.

"The bookcase. Top shelf, behind _Turn of the Screw. _Projector's in the pantry."

The three of us walk over to the bookshelf, looking for _Turn of the Screw._ Locke finds it first, reaching deep into the shelf. He pulls out an old tape roll. On the edge of the case, the word "Orientation" is stamped there.

Jack finds the projector and he and Locke set it up as I take a seat on the sofa. Oh my gosh, comfort. I haven't felt a real cushion that wasn't worn from some stranger's butt in such a long time.

"So what happened before we showed up, John?" I ask.

"Kate was tied up, Desmond had a gun on me. I think you pretty much caught the gist of it." He answers.

"Desmond…" Jack says. I notice that it's not a question. That must be Scotty's name.

"He wanted to know a lot about us. How we got here. If we were sick.

"You didn't ask anything about him?" Jack asks.

"He was the one with the gun."

"You sure seem calm for someone who believes the world's going to end in the next forty-five minutes," Jack says.

"He'll fix it."

"You understand that what he's saying. It's insane. It's impossible," Jack says.

"Why is it insane?" Locke asks.

"Because the last time I saw a computer that was going to save the world, it didn't look like that," Jack says, thrusting his finger in Desmond's direction.

"Is the reason you're so upset because he said he recognized you? Because that would be impossible," Locke says. Jack doesn't respond.

Jack and Locke finish setting up the projector and join me in from of it. A title screen plays with the words

The DHARMA Initiative  
3 of 6  
Orientation.

An octagonal logo with a swan in the center appears on the black back-round. Soon, it is replaced by an Asian man wearing a white lab coat.

"_Welcome, I'm Dr. Marvin Candle, and this is the orientation film for Station three of the DHARMA Initiative. In a moment you'll be given a simple set of instructions for how you and your partner will fulfill the responsibilities associated with the station. But first, a little history._"

Candle's figure is replaced by images of what he starts to describe.

"_The DHARMA Initiative was created in 1970, and it is the brainchild of Gerald and Karen DeGroot, two doctoral candidates at the University of Michigan. Following in the footsteps of visionaries such as B.F. Skinner…_" The film has a splice in it, cutting off Candle's monologue. He continues with "…_imagined a large scale communal research compound where scientists and free thinkers from around the globe could pursue research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and Utopian social_…" there is another splice. "_Danish industrialist and munitions magnate Alvar Hanso whose financial backing made their dream of a multi-purpose social science research facility a reality._"

The video cuts back to Candle's figure. "_You and your partner are currently located in Station Three, or the Swan, and will be for the next 540 days. The Station Three was originally constructed as a laboratory where scientists could work to understand the unique electromagnetic fluctuations emanating from this sector of the Island. _

"_Not long after the experiments began, however, there was an incident. And since that time the following protocol has been observed: every 108 minutes the button must be pushed. From the moment the alarm sounds you will have four minutes to enter the code into the microcomputer processor…_" A third splice occurs. "_…induction into the program. When the alarm sounds, either you or your partner must input the code. It is highly recommended that you and your partner take alternating shifts. In this manner you will stay as fresh and alert…_" Splice "_…utmost importance that when the alarm sounds the code be entered correctly, and in a timely fashion. Do not attempt to use the computer for anything." _Splice._ "Congratulations, until your replacements arrive, the future of the project is in your hands. On behalf of the DeGroots, Alvar Hanso, and all of us at the DHARMA Initiative, thank you. Namaste. And good luck. _

An end screen with the words "The Hanso Foundation, 1980, All Rights Reserved" appears, ending the film.

Jack and I exchange a look. His face reads frustration. Mine reads confusion. "We're going to need to watch that again," Locke says, getting up and going to re-thread the film.

"You're going to watch that again?" Jack asks, shocked

"Aren't you?" he asks.

"No, John, I'm not," Jack says, getting up and walking toward Desmond.

"What about you?" Locke asks me.

"The DHARMA Initiative?" I say. "So it's like, a group of people who came to the Island to conduct…research? So where are they now?"

Locke smiles. "Like I said, I'm gonna watch that again."

The thought of watching it again makes my head spin. I decide to get up and I follow Jack's footsteps back into the computer room. He's there, talking to Desmond.

"So, you don't get out, you don't see anyone?" Jack is asking Desmond. "Where does your food come from?" But Desmond is too absorbed in the computer. "You really think this is happening?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Desmond asks, distracted.

"It says "quarantine" on the inside of the hatch to keep you down here. To keep you scared. But you know what? We've been up there for over forty days and no one's gotten sick. You think that this is the only part of it that's true?! Do you ever think that maybe they put you down here to push a button every one hundred minutes just to see if you would? That all of this, the computer, the button…it's just a mind game? An experiment?"

Jack has a point. The more I look at the tiny, outdated computer, the more I start to accept the video I just watched as false. A button on a computer can't save the world. What is it saving us from?

Desmond looks up from the computer for the first time at Jack's suggestion. "Every. Single. Day?" he asks, unconvinced of Jack's accusation. "And for all our sakes, I hope it's not real. But the film says this is an electromagnetic station. And I don't know about you, brother, but every time I walk past that concrete wall out there, my fillings hurt."

I remember the way Jack's key gravitated toward the wall. Electromagnetism. That's what this hatch is saving us from?

I notice Desmond look at the clock. "Right," he says, sitting back down in the chair and putting the lid back on the computer. He crosses his heart with the Sign of the Holy Trinity and flicks the screen switch.

The power in the whole station goes out, leaving us in the dark. But a generator must have brought lights back because these are much dimmer than the ones before.

"Oh no," Desmond exclaims.

He gives up on restoring the computer. Locke runs into the computer room. "What happened?" he asks us frantically.

"It's over," Desmond says, staring at the count-down.

"What do you mean, it's over?" Locke shouts.

Desmond runs out of the room.

I've had it! Whatever I thought was going to be down here, this isn't it. I need some time to clear my head.

Desmond is leaving the hatch with a pack slung over his shoulder. Jack follows him out the corridor. I make my way over there, intent on leaving.

"Tia, you can't leave too!" Locke say to me as I pass him.

"Don't tell me what I can't do, John. You really think that computer is going to cause the end of the world? Fine, but keep in mind: that computer never would have gotten shot if you hadn't blown open the hatch. Desmond would have gone about his merry day, pushing that button until whenever and it wouldn't have been our problem. But no, you had to open the hatch. You had to see what was inside."

"No matter what you do, you will always find a way to blame everything on me, but this isn't my fault! This wasn't supposed to happen!" he yells back.

"Then what was supposed to happen?"

"The Island was supposed to help us!"

That stops me. "The Island was supposed to help us? It's an Island, John. A piece of Earth protruding out of the ocean. You can't blame this on a rock. This. Is. Your. Fault."

"I'm sorry about Boone," he says. "I didn't want him to die. I wanted to teach him, to help him."

"Then why did you let him die? Why didn't you tell Jack and I the truth about his injuries?" I yell, tears threatening to slip through my eyes once more.

"That wouldn't have mattered. Boone was a sacrifice the Island demanded."

My gun is still in my hand because Desmond's is in the butt of my pants. I raise it fast, pointing it at Locke's head. "Don't you ever talk about him again," I say, putting every ounce of threat I can in my voice. "If I ever hear you say his name again, I will kill you."

Locke stares at my face, ignoring the gun. "Please, Tia," he says, his voice back to an eerie calmness. "I need your help. I can't do this alone."

I lower the gun. "You are on your own, John." I follow the corridor and walk out the door at the end into the sunlight.

* * *

I don't go far from the door. I need to get my thoughts straight.

Boone is dead. He fell from a cliff inside a Beechcraft. He's gone from me forever.

There is a hatch in the ground. We blew it open with dynamite we retrieved from a pirate ship called The Black Rock in the middle of the jungle.

Inside the hatch is a man named Desmond. Desmond has been in the hatch for three years pushing a button that saves the world from an electromagnetic explosion.

There used to be a science research company in the 70s and 80s called The DHARMA Initiative that conducted experiments on the Island.

…Yeah, my life isn't complicated at all.

* * *

I sit outside the hatch's front door for a long time thinking about the day's revelations. It's so much to take in. I don't know how long I've been sitting here, but soon, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley come out of the jungle.

"What's going on?" Kate asks, approaching.

"Desmond couldn't fix the computer so he ran off. Jack chased after him, leaving me alone with Locke. He pissed me off, so I left. Came out here to get some air."

I nod to Sayid and Hurley who both look confused at the situation.

Kate and I lead them into the hatch. When we reach the computer room, Locke is sitting on front of it, his hands on his head.

"Dude," Hurley says, taking in the surroundings.

"What is this place?" Sayid asks.

"I need your help," Locke says to Sayid without answering the question. We need to fix this computer."

Sayid sits in the chair, examining the old box. "We need power," he says. "Is there an electric circuit?"

"Desmond blew the electricity about twenty minutes ago," Locke informs him.

Sayid turns to Kate, Hurley, and I. "I need you to look for an electrical panel."

We leave the room, looking around at the concrete walls.

"What does it look like?" Kate calls to Sayid.

"It's a breaker box," he yells back. "There has to be one. Follow the conduit lines."

"Cool, okay, great. What's a conduit line?" Hurley asks.

Kate points at the ceiling. "Those tubes. Follow those."

Hurley walks into the living area and I hear him exclaim, "Whoa!"

"Did you find it?" I call to him.

"Depends on what you mean by 'it'," he calls back.

I'm searching the concrete walls when I hear Kate yell from about eight feet away "Found it!" Two seconds later, the lights are back, illuminating the hatch.

I make my way back to the computer room and an alarm starts beeping. The counter above the computer room arch has started counting down by seconds instead on minutes. There are just over three minutes left.

Sayid puts a lid back on the computer and flicks the switch on the screen. The flashing green light is back, waiting for something to be typed.

"It's on," Locke says, taking the seat from Sayid.

"Okay, so what now?" Kate asks.

"There was a code. He made me enter it."

"What code?" Hurley asks, concerned.

"Do you remember what it is?" Sayid asks.

Locke starts to type. "Four, eight."

"Wait a minute," Hurley says.

"Fifteen, sixteen."

"Dude, I'm serious, stop."

"Hugo, this is not the time or the place," Locke says, trying to remember the numbers.

"Yeah, well, I think it is!"

"Twenty-three."

Hurley starts panicking. "What is this thing? You don't even know what it does! I mean we need—,"

"Thirty-two," Locke finishes. His index finger rests above the "execute" button.

"You know what?" Hurley says, calming down. "Forget it, go ahead, do your thing."

Locke is about to press the "execute" button when a voice speaks from the archway of the computer room.

"It's not thirty-two. It's forty-two. He just told me, Desmond. The last number's forty-two." Jack stands at a distance, far away from the computer.

"You're sure?" Locke asks.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Locke types "42" into the computer. His finger hovers over the "execute" button. He pulls his hand away and looks over to Jack.

"You do it, Jack," he says.

"What?"

"You have to do it."

"You do it yourself, John."

"No, you saw the film, Jack. This is a two person job, at least."

Sayid cuts in. "This argument is irrelevant."

He makes a move to press the button, but Jack stops him. "Sayid, don't. Don't. It's not real." He turns back to Locke. "Look, you want to push the button, you do it yourself."

"If it's not real, then what are you doing here, Jack?" Locke asks. "Why did you come back? Why do you find it so hard to believe?!"

"Why do you find it so easy?!"

"It's never been easy!"

The alarm keeps sounding, the timer now slightly over a minute. "Maybe you should just do it," Kate says to Jack.

"No. It's a button."

"I can't do this alone, Jack," Lock insists. "I don't want to. It's a leap of faith, Jack."

Jack stares the button down as the timer gets closer and closer to zero. At one second left, Jack pushes the button, a look of defeat on his face as the timer flicks back to one hundred and eight minutes.

"I'll take the first shift," Locke says, somewhat smugly, sitting down in the chair.

The timer ticks to one hundred and seven minutes.


	3. Day 46: A Bottle to Chug

"Jack, I don't want a job. I don't want anything to do with that hatch."

"We can't tell everyone about this Tia. Everyone who already knows needs to help contribute."

"Locke or Kate can take inventory."

"Jack, I haven't slept through a whole night in three days. You made me push that button all night. Can't you just give me, like, a day off?"

Jack chuckles. "Okay. But tomorrow, you've got to start. You know a lot about guns. Someone's got to take inventory of that armory."

* * *

As much as I want it too, sleep won't come. And if it does, it's only for small increments of time. Jack has divvied up jobs to everyone who knows about the hatch. Hurley is taking inventory of the food pantry. Sayid is digging under the floor, trying to find a source of power under the bunker. Me? I've been saddled with gun control. There's an armory full of guns off to the side of the living quarters of the hatch. Rifles, pistols, glocks…all types. There's at least twenty, but Jack wants an inventory of all of them, and the ammo. Damn my army skills.

I lay a wet washcloth over my eyes, trying to staunch the headache that won't go away. I've tried to absorb too much information in too short a time.

I just need to sleep.

"Tia?" a voice from above asks me. I remove the towel from my eyes, and her figure is not quite blocking the sun.

"What's up, Claire?" I ask.

Her hands are behind her back. "I was walking on the beach, along the shore, and I found something,"

"What?"

She looks over her shoulder. "This," she says bending down to my level. She removes a bundle of blanket from behind her back and hands it to me. I unwrap the thing.

"What is that?" It's Shannon, with Vincent in tow.

"It's the bottle from the raft," I say. Everyone's notes to family are inside. "We can't tell anyone about this." I grab the blanket and wrap it back up. I hate keeping more secrets and another revelation has pushed my headache into a severe state. Maybe Sun has something in the garden?

Oh my god. "We have to tell Sun," I say. "Her husband could be hurt. She'd kill me if I knew about this and didn't tell her."

"Yeah," Claire agrees. "Maybe she'll know what to do with it."

* * *

"Hi, Sun," Claire greets her as she and I walk into the garden with Shannon and Vincent behind us. Shannon has the bottle.

Sun smiles as she sees us approach, but the looks on our faces tell her that this isn't a pleasure visit.

"What's wrong?" she asks us.

"I found something out in the water," Claire tells her, letting Aaron suck on her thumb. "And I told Tia and Shannon about it, and we thought you should know about it.

"It's the messages from the raft," Shannon says as she hands Sun the bottle.

"We thought you should decide what to do," I say.

Sun's face is in shock. I can't imagine what happened that would make the boys on the raft drop the bottle. It was one of the most important things they carried.

"I'm going to bury it," Sun tells us, her voice shaking trying to hold back tears. "No one needs to know about this." I nod as I kneel down beside her, but I stumble and fall to my knees, scraping the left one on a rock, making me wince at the pain.

"Tia, you look exhausted," Shannon says to me.

"Yes, you need to sleep," Sun agrees.

"I can't. Every time I try, this headache just throbs."

Sun moves to a plant and picks off a leaf. She rips it into small pieces and drops them into a water bottle. "Here," she says, handing it to me. "This will take care of the headache. Now you can sleep."

I chug the water and hand the bottle back to her. Shannon helps me to my tent and I feel the headache start to pass. I conk out almost instantly as my head hits the pillow.

* * *

I wake up six hours later and the sun is starting to set. Everyone, even the people from the caves are on the beach, gathered around tent fires. I see Shannon outside her tent, feeding Vincent something from her hand. I notice everyone smiling and eating. Did Locke catch another boar?

I sit down beside Shannon. We haven't really talked since Boone's death and I have a feeling I'm in for a long conversation. But as I sit, I notice that what she's feeding Vincent is bread. How did she get bread?

"Hey, there you are," she says as I sit down. "I saved you some stuff. Hurley passed out all kinds of food. I grabbed a little bit of small things for you. I guess I just now realized that I don't know what you like."

She's being really polite. I notice food from the hatch sitting beside her with the DHARMA logo on it. "Shannon, I'm sorry about the guns," I say. "I'm sorry I took advantage of you in a time like that. You were angry, I was angry. It was wrong."

"You know," she says, taking a bite of the bread. "I was so mad at you. You got to say goodbye to him, and I didn't. I was angry that you took him away from me. But you didn't. You made him happy. I don't think I ever saw him happier than when he was with you."

I'm pleased she's telling me this. Everyone wanted to talk about Boone's death, give their condolences, but Shannon is really the only person I wanted to talk about him with.

"You know, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a sister," she says, handing me a candy bar with the word Apollo stamped across it.

"You're being really nice to me," I say, grabbing the candy hesitantly.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it," she jokes, nudging me in the shoulder. It's the first time I've seen her smile in four days.

We sit on the beach in front of our fire, joking and sharing our small pile of DHARMA food.

Just like sisters.


	4. Flashback: Red Kites Lifting Faith

Ames, Iowa 1994

"Is this really gonna work?" Gil's eyes stared up at me intently. I really wanted his birthday to be special.

"Of course it's gonna work!" I said, a playful smile on my face.

"You two are just gonna hurt yourselves," Donny said from beside the tree.

We rarely got out of the city. Gran and Gramps's house was up behind us, a giant hill in front of us. I held the kite tight in my hands. There wasn't a lot of wind, but I was determined.

"Alright, Gil. You ready?" I said, holding the kite out in front of me. Gil shook his head up and down frantically, holding the string.

"One, two, three!" we ran down the hill as fast as our legs would carry us. I let go of the kite, but it didn't fly up into the sky like it was supposed too.

I saw Gil's disappointed face as he looked at the fallen kite. "I'm sorry, little man." I said to him.

Gil walked over to the kite and picked it up. He ran back up the hill toward Donny, who's condescending smirk was insulting. "It's your fault!" Gil shouted in Donny's face.

"Whoa, little man, how is this my fault?"

"You said it wasn't going to work! You need to help me and Tia. You need to believe, Donny."

Donny stared down at our little brother as I made it back up the hill. He grabbed the kite out of Gil's small hands. "Fine, I'll help you fly the stupid kite. But I'll run it down this time. I'm faster than Tia."

We made to run down the hill a second time. "One, two...three!" Donny shouted. We took off. Almost reaching the bottom of the hill, Donny let go of the kite.

The wind held it for a few seconds. "Come on you stupid kite!" Donny shouted.

"Yeah, you stupid kite!" Gil shouted, copying his older brother.

At that moment, the wind picked up, heavy sending the red kite into the blue sky.

"Yes!" Gil and I shouted in victory. Donny just stared at the kite in disbelief. "I told you!" Gil yelled. "You just had to believe, Donny!"

We flew the kite for two hours when Gran called us back for dinner.


	5. Day 47: Love and Other Guns

"It's been four days," Sun says. I'm standing on the beach with her and Claire, doing laundry. I can't help but feel slightly annoyed with Sun. I know there's a chance something bad will happen, but while there's a chance Jin is still alive, she still has more than I do.

"You know, that's not that long," Claire says. "They said it could take up to two weeks to find a current. I mean, Michael knew what he was doing. I doubt anything would have—,"

Sun exclaims something in Korean that makes me look up. She starts digging in the sand.

"Sun, what wrong?" I ask.

"My wedding ring. It's gone."

"It can't have gone far," Claire tells her.

"It's probably at your tent," I say, kneeling down beside her. "Don't worry Sun, you'll find it."

She smiles, but doesn't look optimistic.

* * *

I really hat this place. The hatch is cold and damp and the alarm goes off every hour and a half. I'm finally doing the gun inventory like Jack asked. I'm a gun enthusiast. When my mom died, I took it up as a hobby, much to my father's dismay. It's not that I like guns, I just like knowing what they are and how they work. It was one of the reasons the army seemed like a good fit for me. Little did I know that medics only carried one assault rifle. A boring little tool. It's nothing compared to what's in the hatch.

We have five from the original six that were carried by the marshal on the plane. One is with the crew on the raft. One that Locke took from the drug smugglers in the jungle. That's with Sayid. There are a few basic hand guns. In the armory I've inventoried a Tokarev and a Makarov, both manufactured by the Soviet Union. A few glocks, some SIGs, a colt, two AKM rifles…basically we have a lot of new guns now. Eighteen total.

The alarm for the button sounds in the other room. I get up to go punch in the numbers, but someone has beaten me to it. Locke is sitting in the chair and smiles at me as he presses execute.

"Hello," he greets. I nod, but I don't say anything. "I was hoping you and I could talk?" he asks, gesturing to the living area.

"I don't think so," I say, turning around back to the armory.

"Please, Tia. There's so much I have to say."

I roll my eyes. "Fine," I say, walking to the sofa in the living room.

He sits in the armchair next to me. "I know I've apologized already, but I wanted to say it with just the two of us around. Tia, I'm sorry for Boone. I'm sorry I lead him to the Beechcraft. I didn't want any of that to happen."

"John, you've already said all of this."

"I know, but there's more. I owe you a more personal apology. You and Boone grew close because I encouraged it. It's my fault that you're experiencing this much pain. I wanted Boone to be happy, but I didn't want him to tell anyone about the hatch door. And you fit the bill. It was entirely wrong of me to use you in my plans. If I hadn't you wouldn't be going through this grieving."

"You think this is all about you, don't you?" I say, annoyed. "You think that Boone and I got together because you 'encouraged' it? Did you not think that I made my own choices? That you were manipulating me from afar? Boone and I were close before I ever met you. Before you and I ever went hunting together. Before you two ever thought this place could exist. I have a news flash for you, John. It's not all about you.

"I loved Boone for Boone. It had nothing to do with you. And now he's gone. If you'd like to move past that, maybe we can do that. It's been almost a week since he died. He's not coming back and I need to accept that. You butting in and trying to apologize isn't helping. So if it's cool with you, I'd like it if we could just put it behind us. I said two days ago that I never wanted to hear you talk about Boone again. I meant it. Don't do it again."

It's driving me insane that he won't stop bringing this up, so I've decide to let it go for him. If I have to put off with this stupid hatch, then I'm going to have to put up with John Locke as well. The only way I can see that happening is letting it slide under a bridge.

Locke nods his head, that stupid smile on his face. "I can take the next shift. You go get some air."

* * *

"Hey, you found it!" I say, approaching Sun's tent.

"Yes, it was with the bottle from the raft. It must have fallen off while I buried it."

"That's great, Sun."

I make my way over to my tent and Shannon is there, tying Vincent's leash to a small tree beside it. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, great, you're back. Can you watch the dog for me?" She's somewhat frantic and excited about something. I notice Sayid over by the edge of camp, waiting on her.

"Yeah, sure. Go have fun," I say, bending down to scratch Vincent's ear. Shannon runs off after Sayid.

I look around the camp. Shannon and Sayid, going off on a trip. Charlie and Claire, putting Aaron to bed. Jack and Kate cooking a fish together. Everybody has somebody. I have a Labrador.


	6. Day 48: Another Death Hits Me Hard

Shannon apparently saw Walt again last night. Sayid told everyone that it was a nightmare, but I'm not so sure. She ran off into the jungle with Vincent looking for him today. I'd have followed her, but Sayid insisted.

"This is something I have to do. I need to be there for her," he says to me.

"Alright, I'll stay away. I've got a shift at the hatch anyways."

Sayid takes off after Shannon. I sit back down at my tent and put on my boots.

"Good morning, Tia." It's Rose. Rose is the woman who Boone first tried to save through resuscitation the day we crashed. Hurley recruited her to help out with the food in the hatch. I've never really talked to her much, but she's a sweet lady. "How 'bout some breakfast?" she asks, a bowl of yellow fruit held out in front of her.

"Oh, no thank you, I'm fine," I say.

"No, no, I insist," she says, still holding out the bowl.

I grab a slice and it's…wow, that's good. I swallow and ask, "What are these?"

"They're good, aren't they? I found them in the jungle." She points to the spot beside me. "Would you mind if I sit?" I shake my head and offer her the spot. "I've been meaning to talk to you. I haven't really gotten a chance since we crashed. You're a very busy woman."

"Well, then what can I do for you, Rose?"

"I feel like this may be a little too late, but I wanted to give my condolences for Boone."

I nod my head, staring out at the ocean. "Thank you."

"How are you doing?"

"Mostly I just wish everyone would stop bringing it up. Not that I'm not grateful for your condolence. I just wish everyone would stop reminding me."

"I know you've got a lot to be sad about," she says, grabbing my hand. "But I want you to know that I appreciated Boone. I didn't know him very well, but he was there, trying to save my life, that first day. He was a selfless man. He and Bernard would have gotten along, I just know it."

"Bernard?" I ask. "He was your husband in the tail section, right? I'm sorry for your loss as well."

"You have nothing to be sorry about, dear," she says. "Bernard is alive."

"But he was in the tail section."

"Yes, and he's alive." I'm very confused by this, but I let it slide. "You know, you can still talk to Boone," she says, her thumb stroking the back of my hand.

"No, I can't. He's not Bernard. He's not alive, Rose."

"You can sit by his grave. Share your stories, your problems. I'm sure he's watching. A man like that wouldn't just leave you all alone."

"What you're saying he's in Heaven?"

She nods her head. "Yes that I am." She stands up and I go with her. "I know you have a shift at that hatch today, but I'm sure he'd want to hear about it when you're done."

I'm utterly dumbfounded with the direction this conversation took. Rose is a sweet woman, but there's no way her husband could be alive and there's no way I can talk to Boone anymore. She leaves me and I head to the hatch for my shift.

* * *

"John," I call as I enter. I make my way to the computer room. He's sitting there, doing a crossword. "I'm here for my shift."

"Good," he says. "Hey, do you know 'Enkidu's friend', nine letters?"

"Umm, is it Gilgamesh?"

He writes it in. "That works. How'd you know that?"

I'm about to answer when I hear rustling from down the corridor. Jack and Kate make their way down the hall, supporting someone.

It's Sawyer, who's unconscious. Another man enters the hatch from behind them. A tall black man with a beard. I don't pay much attention to him and instead, follow Jack and Kate as they support Sawyer. "What's going on?" I ask Jack.

"He's burning up. We've got to get him in the shower and bring his fever down."

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Okay, go through the medical stash; there's a bottle of Ofloxacin..."

"Ofloxacin. Little white pills?" I ask.

"Yes. Bring the alcohol and some gauge patches. Kate, I need you to strip that bed and make sure it has clean sheets on it."

Kate and I both leave and the button goes off. I know it's my shift, but Locke is still down here. He can handle it.

After soaking Sawyer in cold water, Jack and I move him to the bed beside the living room. I pass the tall black man who is talking to Locke. "What's happening to him?" Kate asks. "Why is he shaking?"

"He's septic," Jack says. "The infection's gotten into the blood stream. If the antibiotics don't bring the fever down he'll go into shock. Hold him up."

"I'm gonna give you some space," I say to them, feeling cramped in the small bunk-bed.

I move back into the living room where Locke is talking to the black man, his back to me. "Please don't tell the girl in there." I hear him say. The black man looks up at me and Locke turns around. "Tia," he says, surprised.

"Don't tell me what, John?" I ask. "You're not going to keep secrets from me again are you?"

"I do not wish to keep this a secret," the black man says. He has an African accent that I cannot place to a region. "A girl was shot in the jungle by one of my people."

"Who are your people?" I ask.

"He's from the tail section," Locke answers. "Shannon was killed. I'm sorry, Tia."

My legs turn to jelly. I fall to the floor in disbelief. Shannon is dead. Boone is dead. Both of them She was my last connection to the man I loved. She was the last person I had left.

Why did this happen?

Jack enters the room. "What's going on?" he says, coming over to me and helping me up. He moves me to a chair and the black man takes a seat in another. "What's going on, Tia? Why are you crying?"

I hadn't noticed the tears well up in my eyes. "Shannon's dead." I choke out though the tears.

Jack moves to the large black man. "Who are you?" he asks. "How did you get here?"

"My name is Mr. Eko," he says. "I was on the other end of the plane."

Jack pauses and absorbs the information. "Where are they?" he asks, but Mr. Eko doesn't respond. "I said, where are they?"

"Jack, it's not his fault," Locke says.

"Shannon's dead!" Jack yells. He turns back to Eko. "You're going to take me back out there, right now."

"This man isn't the problem. He brought Sawyer back."

"Half-dead with a bullet hole in his shoulder, John!" he yells. "Are you going to talk to me or are you just going to sit there?" he speaks again to Eko.

"Anything I say will only make you angry. So, yes, I will sit here," Eko says calmly.

"Jack! Jack!" We hear from the corridor. It's Sun, followed by Michael. Jack and Michael greet each other with a hug.

"We've got a problem, man," Michael says after they break apart. Eko rises from his chair.

"I know about Shannon," Jack says.

"Yeah? The woman who did it tied up Sayid. She won't let him go." Michael looks over at me. "Tia," he says. "Tia, I'm so sorry."

"We need to find her," I say, whipping the last of the tears from my eyes. "We need to find her body."

Jack and Michael move to the armory and start loading guns. When Boone was killed, I looked for revenge. Now that Shannon is dead, I'm going to get it. Jack hands me a loaded pistol and a glock.

"You remember how to get out there, right?" Jack asks Michael, loading a rifle.

"Yeah, I think so."

"We should stop and think about this, Jack," Locke says, away from the door.

"Think about what, John? Shannon's dead, Sayid's being held at gunpoint. You want to sit and hope that situation resolves itself, be my guest." Jack hands Michael the rifle. "You know how to use this?"

"Yes, sir."

We start to leave, but we're halted by a yell. "Stop!" It's Mr. Eko. "Please. What do you want?"

"Excuse me?" Jack asks.

"Peace? Revenge? Justice?" says Eko. "And you are going out with all these guns? What do you want?"

"I want all of our people back here safely. Your friend murdered—,"

"Ana Lucia made a mistake," Eko says.

Jack looks confused. "What did you say?"

"Ana Lucia made a mistake."

"Ana Lucia?" Jack repeats.

"I will take you there. Only you and this girl," Eko says, motioning to me. "And no guns."

Jack and I exchange a look. I nod in agreement. I just want to get to Shannon's body. I hand Locke my two guns and Jack hands over his rifle. "Let's go," Jack says.

* * *

We're walking through the jungle. "Mr. Eko?" I ask.

"Yes?"

"This woman, Ana Lucia? She killed Shannon?"

"The girl with the blonde hair? Yes."

"Why?"

"She made a mistake."

"Yes, you said that." I'm trying very hard not to get annoyed with his slow speech. "Why?"

"Ana Lucia thought she was someone else."

"Someone else? Who?"

He ignores my question. "You and the girl were close?" he asks.

"Yes."

"The man back in the room? He said she was your sister."

I keep walking and I don't look at Mr. Eko. "She may as well have been."

"I am sorry for your loss," he says.

I don't respond.

When we reach our destination, Sayid is carrying Shannon's body. A Hispanic woman stands off to the side. I do my best not to cry in front of strangers a second time. I walk behind Sayid and my sister, back to camp.


	7. Day 49: Four Tailies and a Funeral

**Can I just say, I love love love writing for Mr. Eko! It is so much fun! Enjoy!**

* * *

Sayid has been digging Shannon's grave all morning. He refused to let me help and I understand why. I dug Boone's grave.

I'm sitting by a small fire, poking it with a stick when a shadow covers the sun from overhead. "May I sit?" It's Mr. Eko. I shrug my shoulders and keep poking the fire. "I do not know your name," he says to me.

"Tia," I tell him.

"It is nice to meet you Tia. I'm sorry we could not meet in better circumstances. I want to thank you for letting us into you camp."

"Yeah, well, welcome to the beach."

"Thank you." He pauses for a few seconds, then continues, "The girl, Shannon? She was not your sister?"

"No, um, her brother—well actually her step-brother. He and I…we were…"

"You were married?"

"No, we met after the crash. He and I…He died a week ago, today."

"I am truly sorry for your loss," Eko says.

"Thank you."

"I have a question, if you don't mind?"

"Please,"

"Ana Lucia, the woman who killed your Shannon. She is in great distress. I was wondering if you could forgive her."

"I still don't know why she did it."

"For forty-eight days, my friends and I were tormented on our side of the Island by a group of ruthless people. These people attacked us and kidnapped our friends. We heard whispers in the jungle; the sound they make before they attack. Ana Lucia fired the gun because she thought she was in danger. She did not know who was behind the trees."

"These people—,"

"I have heard you call them the Others."

"Yes, the Others. Do you know why they attacked you?"

"No, I do not."

"And you and your people. Ana Lucia. You all have no intention of hurting me or my friends?"

"Absolutely not. I am one on a righteous path."

"Then I forgive her."

Mr. Eko bows his head. "Could you please tell her that? I would like for her to stop suffering. She has been through much this last month."

I nod my head "yes" and Mr. Eko rises and leaves me at my fire.

* * *

"You're Ana Lucia?" I ask, approaching the Hispanic woman from yesterday. She has claimed a spot on the edge of the camp to make her shelter.

"Yeah, that's me," she says, standing up to face me. "You came to get the girl yesterday."

"Yes. That was me. I'm Tia." I hold out my hand and she shakes it.

"So you're Tia, the girl's sister?" she asks.

"I think Shannon would be really annoyed at everyone if she heard them referring to her as 'Tia's sister'. We were close, but she wasn't my sister. Her brother and I were sort of a thing."

"I didn't know she had a brother."

"You wouldn't. He died a week ago."

She looks very uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. For him and the girl."

I nod my head. "I understand why you did it. You thought you were in danger. It was an honest mistake and I forgive you." She nods her head and it seems she can't get words out of her mouth any more. "I brought this for you," I say, dropping my spare pack. "It's a pair of jeans, a small tarp, and a blanket. I hope it helps."

"Thank you," she says, picking up the pack. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything."

* * *

Later I stand by Shannon's covered body. She's deep in the hole Sayid dug for her. Pretty much everyone has come to pay their respects. Ana Lucia seems to have passed and I don't see Kate. I assume she's at the hatch taking care of Sawyer.

Sayid starts to speak, barley able to get words out. "Shannon and I were strangers. We never would have met if... We wouldn't even have spoken if... But we did meet and we did speak. At least... I loved her," he finishes and walks away, carrying a necklace of Shannon's. I can't bring myself to move and follow him. I can't bring myself to say anything.

Jack walks up to the edge of the grave. "May she rest in peace," he says, bending down to grab a handful of sand and dropping it down on her body. Everyone follows suit, dropping their own handful. I wait until everyone has gone and I drop mine last.

* * *

"I guess I owe you an apology," a woman says to me.

I look up at a familiar face. "You," I say with surprise.

"Yeah, it's me. Libby."

"You were in the tail section?" I ask surprised.

"And you're wearing my shirt," she says pointing.

"Oh, I didn't realize—,"

"Don't worry about it," Libby says. I remember her well. She gave me two thousand dollars at the airport to buy the ticket on Flight 815. "How about we call it even? My money got you on an Island, now you definitely don't have to pay me back."

"I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to," I say.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Libby says. "It was a very nice funeral."

"Thank you."

"Well, I don't want to keep you," she says, and walks away.

* * *

I received news from the hatch that Sawyer is awake and recovering from his gunshot wound. I've met all of our new campers, Rose having introduced me to her husband Bernard earlier. Turns out he was alive after all.

I wish I could have as much faith as Rose. After today, losing Shannon to gain four strangers, I'm ready to just go to sleep for a long, long time.


	8. Flashback: Mom

Sacramento, California.

March, 1997

"Save the otters!" my mom shouted, holding up her sign. "Their homes are just as important as yours!"

This is what I loved about Mom. She always stood up for what she believed in. Sure, she could donate tons of money to her animal organizations, but she loved spreading the word.

"Thank you for your donation, sir," I said to the man who had just dropped a fifty in my tin box. Mom winked at me, that awesome smile on her face.

Gil sat beside me, playing with a Voltron action figure. He was still a little young to pay attention to this kind of stuff, but me, I was sixteen and ready to work for my mom. I wanted to be a veterinarian like her. Maybe not quite to this extreme, but something along the lines. Gil just wanted to work with plants. Donny…well, who knew what Donny wanted to do.

Dad never came to these rallies, but he supported Mom's charities with donations and the occasional appearance at a benefit for Mom's practice.

Later that evening, while the sun was setting, I was carrying posters back to the car when I heard the loud screech of car wheels. "Give me the money!" a loud voice yelled. I ran back to my mom, leaving Gil in the car. A man held my mother at gunpoint, the tin box of donation's I'd held in my lap all day in her hands. "Did you hear me, bitch? Give me the money!"

My mom tried to reason with the gunman, and she was so soft spoken, I couldn't hear her from my distance. The next thing I heard was a _pop_. My mother's body fell to the ground and the gunman stood there, staring at her body for a few seconds. The he grabbed the tin box and disappeared. I ran back to the car.

"What was that noise?" Gil asked from the backseat, half asleep.

* * *

_One week later_

"You look like hell, Lady," Gran said from the kitchen doorway.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, dipping my spoon back into the chocolate pudding.

"No, I mean it. Stop stuffing your face and get up off that floor." She walked over and yanked the bowl out of my hands, set it on the counter and pulled me up off the floor. It scared me sometimes, how strong she was despite her old-lady bones. "There are people out there that want to give their condolences."

"I don't care about their condolences—,"

"I know, Lady. I don't much care for them either. But you wanna know a secret?"

"I'm not really in the mood for—,"

"Whenever someone close to you dies, no one ever knows what to say. So they say that they're sorry because human empathy is a virtue. They say they're sorry because they want to make you feel better and they don't know how. Unfortunately for us, that means comforting them, more than they comfort us. Do you understand, Lady?"

"You're gonna make me go back out there and listen to people tell me how sorry they are that she died, even though I don't want their sympathy?"

"People in your life are gonna die. There's nothing you can do to stop it. But you have to let people say they're sorry. You'll never know exactly how the dead person has touched their life. You have to be the responsible one."


	9. Day 51: New Shelter

The new campers are settling in. Ana Lucia mostly keeps to herself at the edge of camp, as does Mr. Eko. Bernard is a nice enough man.

I like Libby, despite her being part of the reason I'm on the Island. I've helped her build a shelter next to mine.

"I hope you don't think I'm trying to take the place of your friend," Libby says to me. "I just feel guilty, you know? Like it's my fault that you're here."

I grab a string of wire and hook it through a hole in the tarp. "Don't worry about it. It's not completely your fault. If anything, I blame my old man."

"Oh, I understand. Me? I blame my third ex-husband."

"Damn. I mean, I'm not judging or anything…but damn."

"Yeah, I know," she says, jumping down from the bit of wreckage she's using to stand on. "Most people don't expect it. My first ex-husband was in the Navy. He wasn't much of a peach, but it taught me to respect veterans. That's why I gave you the money. I didn't know if you were homeless, or whatever."

"Well, I appreciate it, none the less."

"Even though you ended up on this rock?"

"Yeah, it's been pretty awful. But not all of it has been terrible."

We back up and look at our hard work. Libby's tent is decent. Hooray!

"Well," I say, going to grab my pack. "I've got a shift at the hatch, I better get going."

* * *

When I get to the hatch, Jack and Michael are sitting in the computer room talking.

"No one's forgotten about Walt," Jack says to him. "I can't…I don't have any idea what you must be going through, but I just want you to know that as soon as we can we're going to figure a way to go out and bring him back."

"Yeah, thanks, man. Thanks," Michael says.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

I walk into the computer room. "I'm here for my shift," I say.

"Great," Michael says, jumping up. I take my seat for the four hour shift.

* * *

I get back to the beach at sunset and notice Hurley helping Libby with her tarp, which must have fallen. I remember how Boone helped me build my shelter when we moved to this part of the beach.

It still hurts to think about him, but it's starting to numb.


	10. Day 52: The Others

I'm walking with Kate and Sawyer to the hatch. I don't have a shift today, but I do have some laundry I'd like to do. My pack is stuffed with tank-tops and socks.

When we enter through the front door Sawyer says "This place still creeps me out."

"You'll get used to it," I say.

"Where is everybody?" Kate asks, running into the room. "Jack? John?" she calls.

"Maybe they went out for ice cream," Sawyer jokes.

I hear some muffled yelling from the living area and Kate tells Sawyer to shhh. "Jack?" I call, confused.

"In here, in the armory. Michael locked us in here," Jack shouts from behind the door.

"What'd he say?" Sawyer asks.

The button starts beeping and Kate says "I got it," and runs back into the computer room.

I start turning the combination knob on the armory door. "No, no, Tia." Locke calls from the inside. "I changed it."

This surprises me. "Why'd you do that, John? I thought I was in charge of the guns."

"You were in charge of inventory, which you finished. Now, right two times to twenty-five."

"Okay," I say, following his instruction.

"Left two times to twenty-nine. Right once to forty."

I hear the click of the door's lock and I open it. "Howdy, boys," Sawyer says to them.

Jack is finishing loading a gun and hands it to Locke. "What are you doing, Jack?" Kate asks, coming back into the room.

"Going after him," he says, grabbing a rifle.

"What happened?" Sawyer asks, confused.

"Michael went after Walt," Locke tells us.

"Went after Walt?"

"Pulled a gun on me, put us both in there, and went after Walt," Jack says, stuffing water bottles into his pack. Sawyer walks into the vault. He starts loading a handgun. "Hey, what are you doing?" Jack asks.

"What does it look like? I'm coming with you."

"You're still on antibiotics," Jack protests.

"It's a good thing I'm traveling with my doctor, then."

"You're not going without me," I say, going into the armory and grabbing my own glock and an extra clip.

"No, no, you're not coming," Jack says, reaching for my gun.

"Jack, I don't know how many times we need to have this conversation, but you are not the boss of me. I'm an adult. I'm a war veteran. I do what I want."

"Fine," he concedes. "Let's go."

We all exit the hatch, with Kate on our tails. Outside Locke points at the ground. "Well, I can't tell you it's definitely Michael's, but it looks like his boot print."

"There's one over here, too," Kate says, pointing.

"That sounds like a trail," I say, walking towards her.

"You got a gun for me?" she asks Jack.

"You're not coming."

"Excuse me?"

"You're not coming. Someone has to be here to take care of the button."

"So why should that person be me? I can track, carry a gun—,"

"You're not coming!" Jack yells. "You're staying. Alright?" Kate stares at him, pissed. "Let's go," Jack says, leading the way down the trail.

I give Kate an apologetic look. Jack doesn't care about me, that's why he conceded so easily when I said I was coming. He just doesn't want her to get hurt.

On the other hand, if she really wants to come, she needs to grow a pair and do it anyway.

* * *

Jack and Sawyer bicker about the Kate Thing, but I don't pay much attention. I just follow Locke up a hill through a giant clearing. Locke stops walking.

"What?" I ask.

"Does any of this look familiar from when you were coming back?" Locke asks Sawyer.

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf. How could I forget this place?" he says, sarcastically.

"What's wrong?" Jack asks Locke.

"When you came across the island what side was the ocean on?" Sawyer looks around for a minute, then points to his right. "You came from the east, Michael's heading north."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Sawyer asks.

"It means he's not headed back to where you came from. He's going in a different direction," I clarify.

"He's heading somewhere else," Jack agrees.

We make it to a small cliff. Locke grabs a vine and we start to climb it. My right hand slips about halfway up and Sawyer grabs my foot, helping me keep balance. "Careful, Brown Eyes!" He says, grunting to hold may weight.

"Don't worry about me, worry about your shoulder," I tell him, grabbing the vine and pulling myself up to Locke whose already made it to the top.

"Are you sure Mike went this way?" Sawyer says.

"Why do you ask?" counters Locke.

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. Clean, I probably would have gone around Mt. Vesuvius."

"Why'd you pick that name?" Locke asks, giving Sawyer his hand and helping him up.

"Ain't it obvious? All you need's an earring and a mop."

"No, your name. Why'd you pick Sawyer?"

"What do you mean, pick?"

"After the census Hurley gave me the flight manifest. Your name is James, right? James Ford."

"What's it to you?" Sawyer asks, peeved with Locke's probing.

"Just an interesting name to choose, is all. Who'd you get it from?"

"Who says I got it from anybody?"

BOOM! There's a distant gunfire a distance from us towards where we're headed.

"Michael!" Jack yells.

"Jack, get down," I say, crouching in the dirt. At least seven more gunshots fire.

Jack ignores me and starts running towards the gunfire, yelling Michael's name.

"Jack! Jack!" Locke yells at him. We all get up and take off after him.

We run for about a quarter mile in the direction of the gunfire sounds, Jack continuing to call out Michael's name. We make it to a clearing and stop to catch our breaths. "Michael!" Jack shouts again, but this time Locke stops him.

"Jack," he says, waving us over to a tree.

"What?" Jack says, approaching. We look at the trunk of the tree and see a bullet has grazed the side. "He's close," Jack says, turning back around.

"Yeah, and if he was shooting at someone you want them coming back?" Locke counters.

"Personally, hell, yeah," says Sawyer.

"You said these people were two days across the island," I say to him.

"Yeah, and they took Cindy less than a mile from our camp," he says.

"Over here," Locke calls, beckoning us over. There's some small things on the ground.

"Shell casings," I note. "How many?"

"Three, Michael's," Locke says.

"You three deaf? I heard at least seven shots." Sawyer says to us and turns to Locke. "You heard it, Daniel Boone, what's your count?"

"Yeah, seven sounds about right."

"It's getting dark. Which way did Mike go?" Sawyer asks.

Locke heads to the tree line to look for the trail. "What?" I hear Sawyer ask. He's looking Jack, who's staring at him.

"You out here for Michael, or is this pay back for getting shot?" Jack asks him.

"Why are you out here, Doc?" Sawyer counters. "You got your reasons and I got mine."

Jack ignores his quip. Locke picks up the trail and we head out again.

* * *

Eventually night falls and Locke loses the trail again. Jack and I stop to make some torches.

"What do you mean you lost it?" Sawyer asks Locke.

"He's a man, not a boar. The sign's more subtle. I need light to follow it."

Jack hands them both torches. "Here, light."

"I think we'd better head back," Locke says.

"What?" I ask, surprised.

"Just find the trail, John," Jack tells him.

"I've lost the trail."

"You don't just lose a trail! You just don't want to find him."

"Yeah, that's right, Jack," Locke says. "I've been running in the jungle toward the sound of gunfire because I don't care about Michael." Locke starts to walk back toward camp.

"Don't turn around on me, John," Jack says.

"You're not going to get him to come back and you know it."

"You know what happens if we just turn around and go back?" Jack says. "We're never going to see him again. And that's going to be on us, on you, and on me."

"You're exactly right, Jack!" a new voice says behind us. I turn toward it, fast holding up my gun, clicking off the safety. "But if I were you, I'd listen to Mr. Locke."

A man stands at a distance, his face shielded from our torches. "Who are you?" Jack asks him. Our guns are all pointed at our new acquaintance.

"He's the son-of-a-bitch that shot me on the raft," Sawyer tells us, moving forward and cocking him gun.

"Why don't you point the gun down?" Mr. Friendly says.

A gunshot sounds and Sawyer jolts back, his free and moving to the side of his face. The bullet must have grazed his ear. I look around the tree line, using my peripheries. There are more of them out there.

"It'd probably be best if we just keep our hands at our sides, gentlemen. Lady," he says, nodding to the boys, then me.

"Where's Michael?" I ask him.

"Don't worry about Michael. He's not going to find us."

"What do you want?" Jack asks.

"Why don't you build us a fire, John? I think it's time we all had a talk."

We all exchange looks. Mr. Friendly bends down and grabs something beside him and walks it toward us, dropping it. It's a pile of firewood. Locke puts his torch into it and it lights instantly. I can see Mr. Friendly clearly now. He has a long beard that's covered in dirt, as is his clothes, which look like brown rags sewn together haphazardly to fit his heavy-set figure.

Lock sits down on a fallen tree log. "Why don't we let the lady sit first, John," Mr. Friendly says. "Tia, please sit down." He gestures to the log beside Locke and I sit, with my gun still in my hand. Sawyer remains standing and Jack paces the circle. "Just sit down, Jack. Nobody's going to hurt you. I come in peace," Mr. Friendly jokes.

"How do you know our names?" Jack asks him, but he just smiles. "You took Walt," Jack continues.

"Walt's fine," says Mr. Friendly. "He's a very special boy."

"Look, you said you wanted to talk. So talk," Jack says.

"Let me ask you something. How long you been here on the Island?"

"Fifty days," Jack answers.

"Ooh, fifty days. That's what? Almost two whole months, huh? Tell me, you go over a man's house for the first time, do you take off your shoes? Do you put your feet up on his coffee table? Do you walk in the kitchen, eat food that doesn't belong to you? Open the door to rooms you got no business opening? You know, somebody a whole lot smarter than anybody here once said: 'Since the dawn of our species man's been blessed with curiosity.' You know the other one about curiosity don't you, Jack?  
"This is not your island. This is our island. And the only reason you're living on it is because we let you live on it."

Jack smiles. "I don't believe you."

"You don't believe what?"

"I think you've got one guy up there with a gun. I think there's more of us than there are of you. I think if you had any real strength, you wouldn't have had to send a spy. Ethan?" Jack says, reminding him.

"That's an interesting theory," says Mr. Friendly. Then he yells, raising his hands "Light 'em up!"

All around us, torches are lit. People stand beside every single one, but they're hidden by the leaves in the trees. I stand up with surprise.

"We've got a misunderstanding, Jack," Mr. Friendly says. "Your people, my people. So listen carefully. Right here, there's a line. You cross that line, we go from misunderstanding to something else. Now, give me your weapons, turn around, go home."

"No," Jack says.

"I hoped it wouldn't come to this," says Mr. Friendly. "Bring her out, Alex!" One of the Others brings Kate out of the tree line, a bag over her head. "She was following you. Like I said, curiosity." He pulls the bag off of Kate's head. Her mouth is gagged.

Sawyer starts to move toward Kate, but Mr. Friendly pulls out a gun and holds it to Kate's neck. "Don't," he warns. "Jack, the decision you gotta make right now is this: can you live with the fact that I shot this woman right in front of you when you could have saved her life by giving up and going home? Or are you going to give me your guns, turn around and walk away. It's your call, Jack." There goes out little bit of leverage.

"You touch a hair on her head," Sawyer threatens. "I'll—,"

"Shut up!" Mr. Friendly commands, not so friendly anymore. "I'm going to count to three. One, two," he cocks the gun.

"Stop," Jack says, dropping his rifle onto a blanket in front of Mr. Friendly. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a glock, dropping that too.

"Now them," Mr. Friendly says to Locke, Sawyer and I. I drop my glock. It's the only weapon I brought. Locke drops his pistol and starts to walk away.

"Give me the other one, too," Mr. Friendly smiles and Locke pulls out a second gun, droppin it on the growing pile.

Sawyer moves forward. "You and me ain't done, Zeke," he says, dropping his glock.

Mr. Friendly reaches down and grabs the blanket and the guns, pushing Kate into Sawyer's arms as the torches around us go out.

"Jack, I—," Kate starts.

"You alright?" Jack asks her coldly.

"Yep."

We decide to camp for the night and head back in the morning as Locke isn't sure he can get us back in the dark.

I wish someone had suggested we move to a different spot.


	11. Day 53: An Army

We make it back to camp before mid-day. Not much is said on the journey back. Kate tries to apologize to Jack for what she did, but he doesn't forgive her. I want to tell her that it's okay, but it's not. She was stupid and reckless. If she wanted to come so bad, she should have told Jack to suck it and some with us as a group.

When we get back to the beach Jack says to me "Tia, can you come with me?" I nod and follow.

He takes me to the edge of camp, towards Ana Lucia, who's cutting up a mango that Vincent is trying to get.

"Go away. I barley have enough food to feed myself." She cuts a sliver of mango and tosses is away in the sand. "Go get it," she says and Vincent chases after the fruit.

"See you've made a friend," Jack says to her, sitting down.

"Progress," she says, eyeing me suspiciously. "I hear you were out looking for Michael. He run off looking for his kid again?" Jack nods and takes a swig of water then offer her the bottle. "Not much you can do about that then," she says.

"Is it true that you killed one of them?" Jack asks Ana Lucia.

"One of who?"

"Them," he says, nodding toward the jungle. Ana nods her head "yes".

"Jack," I say. "No offense, but why am I here?"

"Hold on," he says, turning back to Ana. "Sayid tells me you're a cop."

"I was a cop," she says, taking a bite of her mango.

"Can I ask both of you something?" he says to us. We nod our heads. "How long do you think it would take to train an army?"

"What are you talking about, Jack?" I ask.

"They've attacked us one time too many," he says angrily. "They've kidnapped us, killed one of us. I'm sick of it. We need to start fighting back."

"Yeah? And how? We don't have enough weapons. They took seven guns off of us."

"Six," he counters.

"No, seven. They took one off of Kate too. I counted thirteen torches last night. That's at least fourteen people, including our friend with the beard."

"We have forty."

"Okay Jack, so we form an army. We ask around. How many of these people do you think want to do that?"

"They'll—,"

"No Jack, they won't. Ana Lucia, you agree with me, right?"

She looks at her mango, then brings her face up. "I think Jack's right."

"You're kidding!"

"Yeah, I don't really kid. He has a point. I know that you were in the army and that you have reservations about this for personal reasons—,"

"I have plenty of reason to want them gone! But that doesn't mean I'm going to rick everyone's live by going and attacking them. They kidnapped Walt, they blew up the raft…we don't know what more they could be capable of."

"I just wanted your opinion," Jack says. "You don't think it's a good idea, then fine. I didn't ask you to train everyone, I asked you how long it would take."

I grab my pack, standing up. "You two are on your own," I say, walking away.


	12. Day 54: So Much What?

"Hey, Tia." Hurley says, greeting me outside my tent.

"Hey Hurley." He stands there, awkwardly. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, so, you and Libby…you guys get along right?"

"Um, yeah I guess. We met at the airport before the flight."

"She seems cool," he says, trying to be casual.

"Yeah, she's alright." I want to approach this nicely, but it just makes me bitter knowing that, once again, everybody has somebody. My somebody is five feet in the ground a quarter mile to my left.

"Has she…asked about me at all?" he says.

"Um, no. Not that I can recall." He looks really disappointed, so I add "But in all honesty, we don't really talk much. I just helped her build her tent here." I gesture to Libby's tent beside mine.

"Cool, thanks. Later dude," he says, moving away frantically. I turn around. Libby is coming back to her tent. I smile. No wonder he booked it.

"What was that about?" she asks watching Hurley totter away.

"I think he likes you," I say.

"Really?" she says, intrigued. "What's his name? Hurley?"

"Yeah. He's actually a really nice guy. A little eccentric, but really nice."

"You don't meet a lot of really nice guys where I'm from. Eccentric, though, that's a good word. What makes him so eccentric?"

"Sometimes he acts a little weird. There was one time we were hiking in the jungle and we came across a rope bridge over a gorge. He just walked across, no fear at all. I know it doesn't sound that bad, but if you were there, it was really scary."

"Still, though, everyone has their downsides."

She was still looking after Hurley in the distance.

* * *

It's nighttime, not too late, and I'm stoking a fire outside my tent.

"Help! Somebody took my baby!" Claire shouts. I jump up from my spot.

Claire is at her tent and Aaron's cradle is empty. "Claire, what happened?" I ask soothingly, trying to get her to calm down.

"I don't know, Aaron's gone!" she screams.

"It's okay," I hear Hurley shout down the beach. "We're over here!"

Claire and I bolt to Hurley, along with what seems like half the camp. Charlie is standing in the ocean, ankle deep, holding Aaron in his arms. "Is he alright? Is he okay?" Claire is yelling before she realizes Charlie is the one with Aaron.

"Claire," Charlie says. "I don't know what happened. I'm sorry. He's okay, though. I, I had this dream—,"

Claire slaps his across the face. Charlie stands there stunned as Claire rips Aaron out of his arms and walks back to her tent. I follow her and the baby, making sure they can get to bed okay.

"What was that about?" I ask her as she puts Aaron in the cradle.

"I don't know!" she says confused. "Did you know Charlie was a drug addict?" she asks me.

"Yes. I was giving him meds to help him get over it. He's been clean since our first week here, though, Claire."

"Oh, really? Did you know he found this statue in the jungle? A Virgin—,"

"A Virgin Mary statue?" I ask.

"Yeah. How did you know about that?"

"There were more, out in the jungle. Where Boone fell. It was a drug smuggler's plane."

"There are more of them?" she asks dangerously.

"Yes, but he's not using, Claire. I'd know if he was. I promise. I wouldn't let him near a newborn if he was using."

"You're sure?" she asks me, rocking Aaron back to sleep.

"Absolutely positive. Do you want me to stay here so you can get some sleep?"

"Actually Tia, it would be my pleasure to do that for Claire. You've got a shift at the hatch tomorrow." Locke is here, and Claire looks instantly satisfied with this notion.

"Um, sure, John. Goodnight Claire," I say, going back to my tent.

That was weird beyond all measure.


	13. Day 55: Charlie Goes Bananas

"I appreciate you wanting to help Claire last night," Locke says to me as I get ready to head out to the hatch.

"Yeah, well, she's my friend. And I don't want anything to happen to the baby."

"Would you mind passing on your shift today? Hugo's down there right now, taking your shift. If you could just keep an eye on Claire?"

"Charlie's not using again." I tell him. "I'd know if he was and he's not."

"Well, this is more for Claire than Charlie's sake."

I nod and head over to Claire's tent where she's changing Aaron's diaper.

"Hey, Claire. Hey, buddy," I say, tickling the baby's nose.

"Did John send you over?" she asks.

"Yeah. But in all honesty, Claire, I don't think you have much to worry about."

"He took Aaron away last night! Right out of his crib!" she yells, causing Aaron to whine. "Oh, I sorry sweetheart," she says, picking him up and rocking him.

"All right," I say. "And that's why I'm here. Nothing is gonna happen to the baby."

"Thank you Tia," Claire says. She looks behind me and her eyes widen. Her grip on Aaron tightens. I turn around.

Charlie is approaching the tent. "I have to talk to her," he says, intently.

"Charlie, now's not really a good time," I say, grabbing him by the shoulders and holding him back.

"No, I have to talk to her. She'll want to hear this," he says, struggling against my grip.

"Charlie, I'm serious, you need to get out of here. Just give her some space."

"Tia, No. Claire!" he shouts at her. I look back and see her trying to ignore him. Charlie pushes me out of his way and I stumble to the side. "Claire! Wait, please, Claire! Listen to me. Aaron's in danger."

"What are you talking about?" she asks him.

"The baby's in danger! Look, I've been having these dreams. I know what they mean now."

"Charlie," I say, trying to calm him.

"Tia, please! Claire, listen, we have to baptize Aaron."

"What?" she asks, confused.

"We can do this! Eko's a priest! We can do this!"

I grab Charlie's arm and start pulling him away as Claire starts to cry. "Charlie, you need to go," I say, pulling him back.

"No, wait! I'm not finished! Claire, look, we have to baptize Aaron!"

I manage to get in front of him and I push him away. "Charlie, that's enough!" I give a shove and he stumbles. When he regains his footing he walks away, dejected.

* * *

Claire asked Locke to move his things beside her tent to keep an eye on them at night. I'm sitting with Libby, cooking a fish in out fire pit tonight.

"So I hear you and Hurley hung out in the hatch today," I say. I'm not really good at girl talk. I have two brothers, my mom died when I was sixteen, and I spent most of my adulthood surrounded by uniformed men. And it's not like Libby is exactly my age. But, hey, at least I'm trying.

"Yeah. It was nice. He's really sweet."

I smile and turn over the fish. Before I can say anything else, though I hear Sayid yell "Fire!" Libby and I both jolt up. In the giant brush field beside our camp a fire has started in the distance, burning through the camp fast. "Grab tools, containers for sand, anything you have," Sayid is instructing everyone. I grab two buckets from inside my tent that I use for washing and hand one to Libby. "If we don't stop it now, it's going to burn right through the camp," Sayid continues. We follow him to the edge of the fire. "We need to cut a fire break right here! Form a bucket line!"

"Some of you, down to the water!" Locke instructs, grabbing a bucket from Steve. I dig my bucket into the sand and douse the base of the fire in it. The other castaways follow suit.

We manage to get the fire dulled down. I hand my bucket over to another person who hasn't been working yet and get away, coughing to clear my lungs of smoke.

"He's got my baby!" I hear Claire yell from down the beach. Oh great, not this again. I start running towards her voice.

"Eko, tell them!" Charlie says to Mr. Eko, still holding the baby. Locke is standing near with his arms outstretched. "Tell them, Eko! Tell them what you told me. That the baby has to be baptized!"

"This is not the way," Eko says, confused by Charlie's actions.

"Charlie, come on, give him to me," Locke says.

"Who the hell are you, John?" Charlie yells. "Aaron's not your responsibility! Where were you when he was born? Where were you when he was taken? You're not his father! You're not his family!"

"Neither are you, Charlie," Locke says calmly.

"I have to do this. I need to. I'm not going to hurt him," Charlie says to Claire, who has tears running down her eyes.

"You're hurting me, Charlie," she says.

Locke manages to grab the baby while Charlie stands, stunned by her words. Locke hands the baby back to Claire, who grabs him and holds him close, walking up to me. I put my arm around her shaking body.

"Claire. I'm sorry, Claire," Charlie mumbles.

Locke punches Charlie and Charlie lands in the water. Locke punches him twice more and then walks away. Everyone leaves and I help Claire back to her tent. Locke shows up not long after. "You can go to sleep now, Claire. He's not coming anywhere near you."

I know I said Charlie isn't using anymore and that's because he never seems like he's on a high. He's not jumpy or jittery, but I can't find another reason for his actions tonight. It just doesn't make any sense.


	14. Day 56: I Thought For Sure

"I'm gonna go check on Charlie," Jack says to me, inside the hatch. We've just finished out shift.

"No, let me," I say.

Jack gives one of his "ha, ha"s. "Why?"

"Because I can give stitches and he likes me more than you."

"Excuse me?"

"Tia's right," Locke says from inside the armory. "Charlie will be more willing to listen to her. She spends more time with Claire and the baby than you do, Jack."

"Fine. Just make sure he doesn't do anything like that again," Jack says.

"Will do." I walk over to Locke in the armory. "What are you doing?"

"I took these from Charlie. Seems he had a whole stash." He's pulling out those Virgin Mary statues from the Beechcraft.

Aw, crap. "I guess I owe Claire an apology. I thought for sure he wasn't using again."

"I don't think he is," Locke says, placing another on the shelf. "I just think that Charlie felt he needed to have it close."

"Alright. I'm gonna head to the beach. You got the button?"

"Yes I do."

* * *

There's a deep gash on Charlie's face. I bend down to get a better look at it. "You need stitches," I say, sitting down and grabbing thread and a needle from my pack.

"I started the fire, Tia," Charlie says, guilt-ridden.

"Yeah, I figured."

"I was desperate. You and Locke wouldn't let me near her. She—,"

"Charlie, I couldn't let you near her. You weren't yourself. She didn't want you around her. Aaron is her baby and she needs to do what she thinks is best for it. I need to know you're never going to do anything like this again. Ever."

"I know what this looks like, what people think. It doesn't matter now, but I didn't use. I wanted to. I really wanted to. But I didn't."

"That's not what I asked, Charlie."

"It's not going to happen again," he says. I dab his wound with peroxide then slide the needle through his cheek as he grunts with pain.


	15. Day 57: The Sheriff

I'm sitting on the bench in the armory as Jack opens the Halliburton case.

"Is that all of them?" Locke asks.

"All seven of them," Jack confirms. "And there's one box of ammo."

"At least we don't have to worry about running out any time soon," Locke says, placing the box of ammo with the rest of the hatch's stash. "Jack, I'm grateful that you decided to keep them all in the same place." Jack points at the Virgin Mary statues on the shelf above Locke's head. "Oh, I had to take them from Charlie. It's his heroin stash. I figure it might have therapeutic value, if it ever came to that."

"You're just going to leave it all in the statues?" Jack asks.

"You want to break seven Virgin Maries, be my guest. I'm superstitious."

I get up and follow the men out of the armory.

"John, the combination," Jack says.

Locke looks at me, then back at Jack. "I'm going to go ahead and assume that you're asking me because you're worried that I might fall off a cliff or something, that it would be irresponsible for just one of us to have access to this room, rather than this being an issue of trust."

"Well, there are a lot of cliffs on this island, John."

I pipe up. "For me, it's more about the trust, yeah."

Locke smiles. "Alright, but I think the three of us should agree that if any of us needs to open this door, we consult each other first."

"Absolutely," Jack says.

"Whatever," I agree. "It's not like I'm actually gonna take any. I just want to make sure you two don't rip each other's heads off."

"Okay," Locke says. "Right seven, left thirty-three, right eighteen. Either of you need to write it down?"

"Nope, I got it."

"I'm good."

"Alright. And, Jack, you may want to consider locking the medicine in here, too." Locke warns.

"Why would I need to do that?"

"Oh, is this because Sawyer stole some of the strong painkillers?" I ask.

Jack looks confused. "He did what? Why would he do that?"

"Something about you stealing them from his stash after he left on the raft."

"Son of a bitch," Jack says, storming out of the hatch.

* * *

"I heard Ana talking to some people about that army of yours," I say to Jack, back on the beach.

"I thought you didn't want to be involved."

"I don't. Which is why I'm telling you that you should stop. They said they'd leave us alone. They have so shouldn't we just put it to rest?"

"You know, I thought you'd be all for this Tia."

"Why? Because I was in the military? Trust me, Jack, it's not all it's—,"

"Jack! Help! We need your help!" It's Kate, shouting over the rainstorm that's currently trapping Jack and I under the same tent.

We both jump up and run over to Kate, who's standing with Locke and Sawyer over Sun's body. She's soaking wet and there's a nasty gash above her eyebrow. "Was she conscious at all? Did she say anything?" Jack asks, starting to inspect her.

"Nothing. Not a word," says Sawyer.

Jin shows up and starts saying things in Korean.

"Jin, she's okay," I try and tell him.

He says something again, this time bothering Jack.

"She's going to be alright," Jack says. "You need to let me take care of her, alright, please." He turns to Sawyer. "Where'd you find her?"

"I heard her scream. Found her out in the jungle about a half a click from here."

"She was out cold and her hands were tied," Kate says.

"What do you mean, her hands were tied?" I ask.

From the back of the group that's gathered around Sun and Jin's tent I hear Ana Lucia exclaim, "They're back."

* * *

After the rain stops and Jack cleans the wound on Sun's head, he, Locke, Sawyer, Kate, Ana, and I gather on the beach.

"They told us they would leave us alone," Locke says.

"Well, John, it looks like they broke their promise," says Jack.

"We don't even know what happened."

"Do we need to know?"

"Where'd you find her?" Ana asks Kate.

"Just outside her garden."

"We should to take a look around," Ana says. "With guns."

"No," Locke protests.

"No?" Jack counters.

"If we arm up we're just as likely to shoot each other as we are one of them."

"Listen, we need to calm down," I say. "We should wait for Sun to wake up and tell us what happened before we make any rash decisions."

"Sounds like a plan," Locke agrees.

Jack and Ana nod reluctantly and we disperse.

* * *

"Tia, Sun's awake," Claire tells me, about an hour later.

When I get to the tent Jack is beside her, asking her questions. "Do you remember anything?" he asks her.

"I was working in my garden when Vincent ran up. Then it started raining and there was a bag over my head and I was being dragged."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know. I didn't see anything."

Jin asks her something and they have a quick conversation. Then she says "I kicked and I fought, and I just ran as fast as I could and then I fell."

She and her husband exchange a few words. Then Jin stands up, facing Jack.

"Gun," he says, holding out his hand. "Gun!"

Jack turns to me. "Is it time to start making decisions?" he asks. I stare him in the eye until, reluctantly, I nod my head.

* * *

Jack, Jin, and I make our way to the hatch armory. When we get there, the alarm is going off, so we head for the computer room, first. Sawyer is sitting there, punching in the Numbers. "What are you doing here?" Jack asks him.

"One second, I'm like this close to the high score on Donkey Kong." He keeps typing as Jin says something impatiently. After Sawyer presses execute, he turns to us. "Now, what can I do you for?"

"Where's Locke?" Jack asks.

"I don't know. I think he said something about going to the store for a pack of smokes," Sawyer jokes, a grin on his face.

Jack heads to the gun vault and opens it, but inside there are no guns. The armory is completely empty.

"Uh-oh," Sawyer says. "It looks like we've got ourselves a break-in. Who's going to call the cops?"

"Where are they?" Jack says, advancing on Sawyer.

"Don't look at me. I was just pushing a button." He reached into his pocket and pulls out a prescription bottle. "Oh yeah, I believe these are yours," he says, tossing them to Jack.

Jack starts to advance on Sawyer, but Jin grabs his arm, holding him back. "No," Jin says, then mutters something in Korean.

* * *

Jack storms back to the beach, where night has already fallen. He marches over to Locke, who's sitting beside a fire. "John, where are they?" Jack demands. "You moved the guns. Where are they? We had an agreement!"

"An agreement that you were about to violate, Jack. So, yes, I moved the guns."

"Where?" Jack shouts. "Where, John?"

"Oh, are you going to start handing them out? How many? Who gets them? How much time before there's an accident? Another accident. I made a mistake teaching Michael how to shoot and now he's... He could be dead for all I know, and that, that was my fault. I take responsibility for that and so, yes, I'm taking responsibility for the guns, too." Locke says, defending his actions.

"I want three guns, John!"

"I'm sorry, Jack! That's the way it's going to be!"

"Two guns! Now tell me where they are, right now!" Jack yells.

I've been so distracted by their argument that I hadn't noticed the crowd that gathered around them. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three bullets fire from a gun behind me and the whole crowd jumps. I turn, quickly as Sawyer makes his way out of the shadows, a rifle in his hands.

"You gave him the guns?" Jack asks, confused and angry.

"No. I hid them," Locke says, just as confused as the rest of us.

"That's right, Jack. He's as stupid as you are. You were so busy worrying about each other you never even saw me coming, did you? How about you listen up because I'm only going to say this once. You took my stuff. While I was off trying to get us help, get us rescued, you found my stash and you took it, divvied it up. My shaving cream, my batteries, even my beer. And then something else happened, you decided these two boys here were going to tell you what to do and when to do it. Well, I'm done taking orders. And I don't want my stuff back. The shaving cream don't matter. Batteries don't matter. The only thing that matters now are guns. And if you want one you're going to have to come to me to get it!"

He turns to Sayid, who's giving him a murderous look. "Oh, you want to torture me, don't you? Show everybody how civilized you are. Go ahead, but I'll die before I give them back. And then you'll really be screwed, won't you?"

He turns back to the crowd. "New sheriff in town, boys! Ya'll best get used to it."


	16. Day 58: Henry Gale from Minnesota

I drop a bag of fruit at Sayid's feet. It's early in the morning as I just got back from a shift at the hatch. "Pick your poison," I say, sitting down.

"Why did you bring me mangos?" he asks, grabbing one from the bag.

"Because we've barely talked in a week and a half," I say, handing him a knife. He starts cutting the fruit.

"You don't have to do this," he says. "Check up on me. Hurley has been doing the same thing. I'm fine."

"No you're not," I say. "You've been pretending to be fine, just like me. I figured we could both use some fresh fruit and some company."

Sayid hands me slices of the mango, but we're quickly interrupted. "Where's Jack?" It's Ana Lucia, looking worried.

"Why?" Sayid asks.

She nods her head toward the jungle and we get up and follow her. "There. See?" she says, pointing. I make out a moving figure in the trees and realize its Rousseau, the French woman.

"You two go back, I'll deal with this," Sayid says.

"What?" Ana says.

"Go back, Ana Lucia. And don't tell anyone what you saw." Ana reluctantly walk back to camp. "You too," Sayid says.

"Nope, I want to know what she wants," I say. I expect him to protest, but he doesn't. He just circles around the trees until he's in front of her. I say behind her.

"What are you doing here, Danielle?" Sayid asks.

"Looking for you," she says. "You need to come with me. Your friend needs to stay behind." She nudges her elbow in my direction.

"No, we're not so big on secrets right now, Rousseau," I say.

"Fine," she says. "Come with me, quickly."

She starts dashing through the jungle, moving at a quick pace. I catch up to the two of them and hear Sayid ask her "Where are we going? You said you were looking for me. What was your plan? To hide in the woods hoping I would pass you by?"

"I was going to wait until dark, then find you at your tent. I didn't want anyone following us." She gives her a snarky look.

"Why?" Sayid asks, stopping his pace.

Rousseau turns around. "We need to keep moving."

"Not until you tell me where we're moving to."

"Trust me," she insists.

"The last time we met you arrived to warn us the Others were coming, which they weren't. In fact, it was a diversion to kidnap Claire's baby. So pardon me for not trusting you."

"This place I'm taking you to," she says. "There's something that will help you, something important. As for trust, take this," she hands Sayid her rifle. "I'm lying it's yours to use."

Sayid checks the chamber of the gun. "How much further?"

"Not far," she says, continuing her pace. "We're here."

We stop at a tree line. "Where are we?" I ask.

Rousseau moves to a bush on the ground and produces from underneath an old-fashioned crossbow.

"What is that for?" I ask suspiciously.

Immediately after me I hear a male voice from behind the tree line. "Help me! Hey, somebody here!"

Sayid runs toward the voice and I follow. It's not a voice I recognize.

"Wait," Rousseau protests as the voice continues to call for help. "Sayid, listen to me."

We break the tree line and there's a middle aged man wearing an orange shirt in a net trap, hanging from a tree.

"Hey! Hey, over here!" he calls to us. "Please, help me."

"Don't believe a word he says," Rousseau says as Sayid runs up to the man. I follow him.

"He's one of them," Rousseau insists.

"I have no idea what she's talking about," the man says. "She's crazy."

"How long has he been up there?" I ask Rousseau.

"Since last night," he answers me. "Please, just cut me down. My name is Henry Gale. I'm from Minnesota. Please!"

"He's lying," Rousseau says again.

Sayid pulls out his knife. "I'm going to cut him down."

Rousseau protests as Sayid climbs up a tree and cuts the rope holding Henry Gale above us. It take a minute, but eventually Henry falls to the ground. "Thank you," he says, untangling himself from the net.

"You're making a serious mistake," Rousseau says. I ignore her and move to Henry. I don't know if he's an Other, but he doesn't seem like much of a threat right now.

"It's okay," I say to him, helping him sit up. "You're alright. Take it easy."

He continues to stare at Rousseau. "No," he mutters, standing up and running in the other direction. I turn around and Rousseau is loading her crossbow.

"Wait. Danielle, don't!" Sayid yells. But Rousseau shoots him anyway. I run in his direction as he falls to the ground. He sits there, whimpering with pain, the arrow sticking out of his shoulder. I turn to Rousseau. "What the hell! You could have killed him!"

"If I wanted to kill him, I would have killed him," she says simply.

"You shot this man with no provocation," Sayid says beside me.

"He is one of them," Rousseau says again. "Tie him up. You should take him to your doctor. He's no good to you dead."

Sayid grabs some of the rope from the trap and starts tying Henry's wrists. Henry whimpers as Sayid moves his shoulder. "And then what?" Sayid asks.

"You talk to him, Sayid. As I recall that is what you do. But know this: he will lie for a long time. He will lie."

Sayid picks Henry up and tosses him over his shoulder. "Where's Jack?" he asks me.

"The beach, but the hatch is closer. All of the medical supplies are there. I can start cleaning it."

"Who is manning the hatch right now?"

"Who do you think?"

* * *

"John, John wake up," Sayid says, standing over him in the bunk-bed. I'm with Henry, who's crying on the floor.

"What?" Locke asks.

"Come out here."

"What's going on?" Locke asks, assessing the situation.

"He says his name is Henry something from Minnesota. Rousseau caught him in a trap. She thinks he's an Other."

"Minnesota, huh?" Locke says.

"That's the question, isn't it?" says Sayid.

"Where am I?" Henry says from the ground Sayid kneels down beside him.

"Who are you?" he asks.

"Henry, Henry Gale. Ah, my back."

"We're going to take it out," Sayid says. "But first I want you to relax. How did you get to this island?"

"Four months ago, we crashed, my wife and I."

"Crashed in what?"

"A balloon. We were trying to cross the Pacific."

"Your wife, where is she?"

"She died. She got…she got sick three weeks ago. We were staying in a cave off the beach. Ah, my shoulder. At least untie my arms."

"What the hell's going here?" Jack says, entering the room.

"Rousseau trapped him in the jungle," Sayid says. "She believes he's an Other."

"An other what?" Henry asks from the floor.

"You shot him with an arrow?" Jack accuses.

"Do I have a bow?" Sayid counters.

"Rousseau shot him," I tell Jack.

Jack gets down next the Henry, who's starting to faint. "Hey, hey, you with me?" Henry doesn't respond and Jack turns to me. "Were you just going to let him bleed to death, Tia?"

"He's fine. He's in pain, but he's nowhere near dying," I say.

"I was trying to get honest answers while he was able to give them," Sayid says.

"We should let Jack treat him first," Locke says. "Then we'll get our answers."

Jack starts to examine Henry. "Jack, do not untie him," Sayid says.

I don't want to treat him, even though this injury is right up my alley. Jack works on Henry as Sayid, Locke, and I discuss our new friend in the corner.

"So, what do you think?" Locke asks Sayid.

"What do you think, John?" Sayid counters.

"I think he's pretty convincing. What about you two?"

"Yes, he is," Sayid agrees and I nod my head. He doesn't seem anything like our friend with the beard.

"The real problem is there's no way we can be sure he's telling the truth," Locke says,

"That is not necessarily true," Sayid says. "Does Jack have the combination to the armory?"

"For now he does," Locke says.

"How long would it take for you to change it?"

"Sayid, no. You can't do this again. Remember what happened with Sawyer? I can't let you do this again. If you're looking for someone to punish—,"

"Why would I need to punish anyone?" Sayid says innocently. "I want to find out who he is. I want the truth. And I think we both know that Jack will have issues with what must be done in order to get it." He turns back to Locke. "So how long, John, to change the combination?"

"Couple minutes, tops."

"Then I suggest you get started."

Locke heads to the vault. I grab Sayid's wrist. "I'm pissed about Shannon too. I'm pissed about Walt. You wouldn't let me do anything to Locke when Boone died, how can I let you do this to yourself again?"

"Because you're just as curious as I am. And unlike Jack, you and I both understand that sometimes certain things need to be done to get what we want."

I know he's right. I know the US Military had interrogators. I'm not stupid. And I agreed with the policies. I treated the tortured. I know he's right. But what if he's wrong about Henry? What if he really crashed in a balloon?

A few minutes later Jack has finished on Henry and we approach them. Henry is still lying on the floor, shaking slightly.

"Did he say anything while—,"

"No, he didn't," Jack says, cutting Sayid off. "He was in shock."

"We can't just leave him laying here, Jack," Locke says, approaching. "If people see him it'll create a panic."

"Yeah, well, where do you think we should put him?" Jack asks.

"I say we put him in the armory, where it's secure."

"Better to err on the side of safety, Jack," Locke supports. "At least until we can be sure."

"What do you think?" Jack asks me.

"Yeah, the armory. We don't want to freak anyone out on their shifts."

"Okay," Jack agrees. "For now."

Jack and Sayid pick Henry up, who's still in shock, and carry him into the vault.

"We can pull that cot in here," Jack says, setting Henry down. "He shouldn't be on his back."

"Good idea," Locke says. Jack gets out of the vault over to the cot and Sayid slams the door shut, locking himself and Henry inside.

Jack runs back to the door, pounding on the outside. "Sayid, hey, what the hell are you doing?" Jack yells to him. "Sayid!"

"Jack, stop," I say, grabbing his wrist and stopping his pounding.

"You're letting his happen again? After what happened last time?"

"Jack, you don't understand. We don't know who he is. This is something Sayid needs to do."

"Don't make this personal!" Jack yells. "This is about Shannon, nothing else. You can't let him do this!" Jack starts to turn the combo lock on the door and fails. "Damn it. Sayid, open the door! Sayid, answer me!"

"Jack," Locke says.

Jack turns to him. "Why isn't this combination working, John? Did you change it?"

"Yeah."

"Why would you do that?"

"You were raising an army," Locke says.

"What?" Jack asks, confused.

"And why you didn't ask me to help, well, that's your business, but there's only one reason to raise an army, Jack. And that's because we're at war. And like it or not, whatever Sayid has to do behind that door…that's a part of it, too."

"And you?" Jack says to me.

"I agree. I told you not to start an army. You didn't listen. This is what armies do, Jack."

"What if he's telling the truth?"

"What if he's not?" I counter.

After a few minutes of angry pacing, Jack starts to clean up the blood and tools on the floor.

"Do you want some help?" I ask.

Jack ignores me. Locke tries next. "Jack I know this isn't—,"

"Shut up!" Jack say bitterly. "Both of you."

He drops the bloody tools in the kitchen sink and moves back to the floor. "Where are the pliers?" he asks.

"What?"

"The pliers are gone."

I let out a breath. "Sayid," I say. I guess this was a bad idea.

We start to hear Sayid yelling from inside the vault, his speech muffled by the door. I can hear Henry yelling for help.

"Sayid! Sayid!" Jack calls, back to banging on the door. He turns to Locke. "Open it. Open it now, John!"

"Jack, this has to happen," Locke says.

Jack runs up to him and pins him against the door. "Open that damn door, you understand me! You open it now!"

"No."

The alarm from the button starts to go off. "Now!" Jack yells as Locke looks toward the button. "Open the door!"

"Let go of me, Jack," Locke says, trying to get free to push the button.

"Or what? You want to push the button? Open the door," I start to move and Jack notices. "Tia, I swear to god, if you push that button—,"

"I'm not pushing the button. John, you need to open the door. I know we need answers but you're not thinking about what this is doing to Sayid. Remember what happened last time?"

The alarm becomes more insistent, it's beeping speeding up. "It's under a minute now, John. You better think fast."

"You wouldn't. If we don't... You would risk everyone's lives?" Locke says.

"You talked me into pushing that button once, John, but it's yours now. You're the one who won't risk it, you. Me? I don't think anything's going to happen when we get down to zero."

"Tia, please!" Locke shouts.

"Just open the door, John. This is enough."

"You want to see what's going to happen?" Jack yells. "Let's just see what's going to happen."

"Okay," Locke concedes. "Okay, right 15, left—,"

"You think I'm stupid? You open it!" Jack says, shoving him towards the vault.

Locke unlocks (hehe) it fast, then bolts into the computer room. Jack opens the door and I see Sayid punching the living crap out of Henry. Jack grabs Sayid, trying to restrain him. Henry is on the ground, blood seeping from new wounds on his face. He's mumbling "I'll tell you whatever you want," and Sayid is yelling "He's lying," over and over. Jack manages to get Sayid out and I shut the door, locking Henry inside.

"What the hell was that?" Jack yells at Sayid.

"He is one of them," he answers, calmly now that Henry is out of his sight.

"Yeah? Did he tell you that?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because I know," Sayid insists. "He is one of them."

"I think that Rousseau thought that about you once, Sayid. If I'm not mistaken she strapped you down, she shocked you, all because she thought you were one of them."

"He is," Locke says, coming back into the room. The beeping from the alarm had stopped shortly before.

"What?" Jack asks.

"He is one of them. To Rousseau, we're all Others. I guess it's all relative, huh?"

* * *

Back on the beach, I see Sayid sitting with Charlie. I haven't gone far from his since what he did to Henry. I have no problem with what he did. I just hate seeing that look on Sayid's face. I over hear his and Charlie's conversation.

"There is a man down in the Hatch. A stranger captured by Rousseau. I beat him. I beat him badly."

"Why are you telling me this, Sayid?" Charlie asks.

"Jack asked me how I knew. How I knew for sure that this man was lying. How I knew for sure that he was one of them, one of the Others. I know because I feel no guilt for what I did to him. But there is no way I can ever explain that to Jack, or even Locke, because both of them have forgotten."

"Forgotten? What?"

"That you were strung up by your neck and left for dead. That Claire was taken and kept for days during which god only know what happened to her. That these people, these Others, are merciless, and can take any one of us whenever they choose. So tell me, Charlie, have you forgotten?"

This whole conversation has me distressed. I know Sayid means no harm in telling Charlie about Henry, even after we agreed to keep it secret to the whole camp, just between the four of us. I leave, deciding that Sayid has been doing this for a long time and that he knows how to cope with it.

But I do agree with him. I feel absolutely no guilt in locking Henry up in the armory vault.

* * *

The baby started crying well after I went to sleep and he hasn't stopped for a long time. I decide to get up and stretch my legs since I can't sleep with my tent being so close to Claire's. I get up and make my way to her tent and see Kate there, guarding Claire against Rousseau, who's showed up at the camp.

"Hey, get back! Get away from her! What do you think you're doing here? Just get out of our camp," Kate tells Rousseau, who leaves with little prompting. I run up to Claire and Kate.

"What happened? What did she say?" I ask.

"She said there's something wrong with him," Claire tells us. "She says he's sick. Tia, can you look at him?" she starts handing me the baby.

"I can take a look, but I don't know much about babies, Claire. Shouldn't we get Jack?"

"John went to get him from the hatch," Claire tells me.

I have Aaron in my arms and I sit down on Claire's bed. He has a rash on his stomach and he won't stop crying. He's also running a fever.

Jack shows up about twenty minutes later, picking Aaron up out of his crib. "It's just not like him," Claire says. "He always sleeps through the night. And this rash... I mean, there's something wrong."

"Babies get sick, Claire," Jack says.

"Okay, well, the fever and cough?"

"It's perfectly normal."

"He hasn't been eating at all."

"Claire, he's okay. It's probably roseola. It's a typical virus that's common in children his age, and the rash is a sign of it."

"Okay, what's if it's not? What if he caught something really bad, like some kind of infection?"

"Infection? Where did you get that idea?" Jack asks, confused.

"Rousseau was here," I tell him.

"What did she say to you?" Jack asks Claire.

"She said she knew he was sick, okay? That he's infected."

"Claire, there is no infection. We've been on this island for two months and no one's gotten sick. Rousseau's crazy. We're going to let the fever just run its course. It's going to be fine, okay, trust me. I'm going to get back to the hatch. I'll come back in a couple of hours and check on him again, okay?"

"Yeah," Claire agrees, giving up.

"Claire," I say. "I'm sure that if there was something wrong Jack would know."

I know I'm the last person to have faith in Jack right now, but he wouldn't lie about the baby.


	17. Flashback: Not Supposed to Be Here

August 1999. UCLA.

The dorm room smelled like cabbages, but I didn't care. It was mine. All my own. No Donny here to ask for a few bucks to buy his next fix. No Gil to play mom to when he needed help. I was finally on my own.

UCLA. It's so much better than home, and I was finally on my way to becoming a veterinarian. Just like Mom. I lit a candle, the raspberry smell trying to take over the eggroll smell. I lay down on my bed, arms and legs spread out like a starfish.

This was my new home.

"Um, excuse me. You can't have open flame in the dorms." I looked over to my door. A woman, maybe two years older than me stood there, her arms on her hips.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Yeah, well, you're not home anymore, sweetie. There are rules here."

Wow, what a bitch. If only she really knew anything about rules.

* * *

January 2002. Los Angeles, California

Minus my spat with that bitch in the dorm that first day, I loved college. I loved my friends and my classes. I'd even met a guy. His name was Bradley.

But that was all over now, since my father had cut off my funding. I was only twelve credits short of my B.A. The school wouldn't approve me for a loan. My mother had left me too much money in her trust. Too bad that all came from my father, who refused to give it to me. Unfortunately he could actually do that. I had gotten my things out of my dorm. I'd lived there for three years.

But there were more important things than wallowing in my own self-pity. There was someone who needed me more.

I stood outside Santa Rosa Mental Institution in Los Angeles. It was a decent facility. But not the kind Donny needed. My father wouldn't pay for rehab, so he stuck Donny in this place. I walked inside.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked me as I walked in.

"Yeah, I'm here to visit my brother."

"Of course. What's his name?"

"Donald Samuels."

"And your name please, miss."

"Tia Samuels."

She typed it into the computer. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear," she said. "It seems that you're not the approved list of visitors."

"What?" I was confused. He couldn't keep me from seeing my brother!

Could he?

Everything was going to hell. My college life, my brother's life. Gil was still stuck in that house. I walked over to a chair in the waiting area and sunk into it, wishing I could disappear.

"Is everything alright, dear?" The receptionist asked me.

"No, no not really," I answered, trying to keep my oncoming tears at bay. Crying was so gross.

"Is Donny special to you?"

"Yes. He's my brother. And he shouldn't even be here!"

"Donny is a great man," the receptionist said. "He brings me my lunch every day. It's one of his therapeutic activities. He cooks and delivers the food to other patients and staff."

Donny loved cooking. He was good at it too. "So he's okay here? Like, he's doing well. It's helping him?"

She smiled at me. "Would you like to see for yourself?"

My eyes widened. "You would do that?"

"I'm not supposed to. But I think Donny would like to see you just as much as you'd like to see him."

I let out a sigh of relief. I was going to see my big brother.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."


	18. Day 59: Fake Beard, Weird

"So you trust her. She's okay?"

"Yes, Claire. She's okay. She's a clinical psychologist. This is the kind of thing she does. You don't have to worry about it."

"Her name is Libby?"

"Yeah. Now calm down. I've got to run to the hatch really quick but I'll be back in about an hour, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah okay."

Claire wants her memories back. The ones she lost when Ethan abducted her. I told her to talk to Libby, because I can't think of any other way to do this.

* * *

Inside the hatch I see Locke and Jack standing in the kitchen and they notice right away when I enter.

"How's our new friend?" I ask.

"I don't know what we're doing," Jack says.

"We can't hide him down here forever," Locke says. "Changing shifts around is going to get people asking questions. I just want to know what the long term plan is."

"Well, John, let me ask you this: we don't have a long term plan for the button but we keep pushing it, don't we? Look, until we know who he is, whether or not he's telling the truth, we have to keep doing what we're doing. If you've got a better idea let's hear it."

"Why don't you let me go?" Henry calls through the door.

I still haven't gotten a chance to talk to him since the Sayid fiasco yesterday. "Did you feed him?" I ask.

"No yet. I was getting food," Locke says.

I pull out a papaya from my pack. "I'll do it. You mind the button." I grab a knife and start cutting.

"You want to talk to him?" Jack asks suspiciously.

"Yes, I do. I think you guys are a little scary, no offence. I'm really good at fishing out the liars. Plus, I won't be long, I told Claire I'd be back at the beach in an hour."

"How's the baby?"

"Still sick." I finish cutting the papaya and pick up the plate. "Could you open the door for me?"

Locke opens the door and I walk in. Henry is sitting on the bench, which looks like Jack and Locke have converted it to a bed. Henry is reading a book by Dostoevsky.

"Hello," I say. "I brought you some food."

"Thank you," he says, grabbing the plate. He takes a dapper bite out of a slice. He looks back up at me. "I don't know your name."

"I'm Tia," I say.

"Henry Gale," he says, holding out his hand. This guy is scary polite. I shake.

I sit down on the other, smaller bench. "Henry, I want to apologize."

"What for? You didn't do anything to me."

"Actually it's something I didn't do. I should not have let Sayid question you. His approach was badly timed."

"Badly timed?"

"We shouldn't have started off that way. Treated you like the enemy from the start."

"You have enemies?" he asks.

"Everyone has enemies, Henry."

"Are these the Others you and your friends keep talking about?"

"Yes. And now, I would like to ask you some questions, if that's alright?"

"I've already told you everything."

"You haven't told me anything other than your name and where you're from. That's not what I want to know."

"I'll answer your questions. I just want out of here."

I don't tell him that that's probably not going to happen. Instead I say, "How did you get here. To the Island?"

"My wife and I crashed. In a balloon."

"Why would you travel in a balloon?"

"Because I had money. And Jennifer thought it would be 'neat'".

"Jennifer? That's your wife?"

"Jennifer was my wife," he says. "You sound just like your Iraqi friend."

"In what way?"

"He kept asking me about Jenny. Burying her. What it was like."

"That's because Sayid is still grieving," I say.

"And so are you," Henry says.

"What do you mean?"

"I can tell. You look the same way I feel. Did you lose someone?"

"I did. But we're not talking about me Henry. We're talking about you. So you crashed in a balloon. Then what?"

"We lived in a cave. Then Jenny got sick. She died and I buried her."

"Where's your beard," I ask, looking at his clean-shaven face.

"I shaved. I had razors on the balloon."

I look at Henry. I can't detect any trace of lie on his face. But I know he's lying. I feel nothing about keeping him locked up. I have no desire to release him. I feel scared about releasing him.

"Alright Henry. I've got somewhere to be. You have a nice day." At that moment the alarm for the button goes off.

"What is that thing?" Henry asks, annoyed.

"Nothing. It just does that. We can't figure out how to make it stop." Best not tell him too much.

I knock on the door and Jack lets me out. "What did he tell you?"

I grab his shoulder and pull him to the computer room. "He can hear everything you say in the kitchen and bedroom. If you want to keep secrets from him, keep your mouths shut.

* * *

Back on the beach, Kate is waiting for me. "Claire got some of her memories back," she informs me.

"What did she remember?"

"Ethan, injecting her stomach with a medicine. That's all she could tell me."

"Is she alright?"

"We're going into the jungle. We're gonna try and find the place where they took her. She thinks there's medicine there that can help the baby."

"But the baby's fine."

"She won't listen, and she's going with or without us"

"Us?"

"Yeah, you're coming too. I know you don't have a shift at the hatch until tonight. I don't know what we might run into, and I could use your help. Claire doesn't know how to handle a gun."

"Sawyer gave you a gun?"

"He gave me two," she says, pulling one out of her pack. "Claire is getting Sun to watch the baby. We're leaving soon."

* * *

My nine-mill is in the butt of my jeans. Kate and I walk up to Sun's tent, where she's holding Aaron. "Ready to go?" Kate asks Claire.

Claire nods and bends down to her baby, who's crying from his fever. "Aaron, sweetheart, shh. Mommy's got to go now, sweetheart. Don't cry. Don't cry. I'll be back really soon and I'm going to make you feel all better, okay. I promise." She stands up straight and looks at Sun. "Thanks."

"You okay?" Kate asks her.

"Yeah," she says. "Let's go."

* * *

"You're sure this is her trail?" Claire asks Kate as we trek through the jungle.

"We started at the exact spot where we chased her off the beach."

"So, what do you guys know about Rousseau?"

"Not a lot," I answer.

"You spent all that time with her when you went out to the Black Rock. You all must have talked about something."

"Just about her ship crashing here and she and her research team getting stranded," Kate says.

"What happened to them?"

"They died," Kate says. I let off a cough to tell her she's said too much. If Claire thinks Aaron is sick, we can't let her know why Rousseau killed her team.

"How?" Claire asks us.

"The tracks are gone. The trail ends here," Kate says, looking up off the ground.

"Tia, Kate, how did they die?" Claire asks again.

"She killed them."

"Kate!" I exclaim.

"What? Why, why would—,"

"Because they were infected," Rousseau says, coming out of the trees. "You believe me now, don't you?"

"I want you to take me back there," Claire demands, stomping over to Rousseau.

"Back?"

"To where I scratched you." I look at Rousseau's arm. There's a scab of a scratch that looks suspiciously like nails. I remember our trek to the Black Rock and Locke had asked her how it happened. She'd said it was a bush.

"You know I remember! I remember a lot of it now. I remember the room, the medicine, a teenage girl. Okay, so don't lie to me and make out you don't know what I'm talking about. My baby is sick and you're going to take me back there to get what he needs. Right now!

"It's not far from here," Rousseau says, taking the lead.

We follow her for about half a mile when she stops. "Why are we stopping here?" Claire asks.

"This is where you scratched me."

"But there's nothing here," Claire says.

"Where do we go next?" asks Rousseau.

"Why are you asking me that?" Claire yells. "You need to tell me where to go."

"Where is this room?" Rousseau asks intently, moving in on Claire.

"How can you be saying that? Okay, you grabbed me, that's why I scratched you. Because you were taking me back to them!"

"Is that what you think?" Rousseau says. "You said you remembered! That's why I brought you here! You lied!" Rousseau grabs Claire's shoulders and from behind me I hear a gun cock.

"Hey, get your hands off of her!" Kate yells.

Rousseau looks over to Kate and let's go of Claire. She walks to the gun and puts her chest at the barrel. "Go ahead, please," she begs. "Do it."

Kate stares at her. "Kate, I think you should put that down now," I suggest. A woman this mentally unstable shouldn't have to face death like that.

Kate lowers the gun and looks past me. "Claire!" she yells. I turn around and notice that Claire is missing as well. Kate starts moving, following her trail and I follow Kate, with Rousseau behind me.

We find Claire not far off, standing in front of a twisted log, staring it down. "There you are," I say, when we've caught up.

She starts walking off again. "Where are you going?" Kate calls after her and we follow her some more.

"I know this is it," Claire says

Kate makes to follow her but Rousseau grabs Kate's arm. "Leave her alone."

"Excuse me?" Kate says, shocked at Rousseau's physicalness.

"Let her look."

"Look for what?" Kate says bitterly, yanking her arm out of Rousseau's grip. "Claire!" she calls.

It's started to rain. Claire is pulling branches and giant leaves off of a small hill. Soon she's uncovered a tarp. What's a giant black tarp doing out here? Kate and I help her pull the tarp off the hill, but it's not a hill. It's a set of doors with the DHARMA logo on it. Except, instead of a swan in the middle, like the logo in the hatch, it has a caduceus in the center. I grab one door and Claire grabs the other and we pull it open. A set of stairs leads down into a dark hallway where a light is flickering on and off.

We walk inside. Kate finds a box on the wall that she opens. "Flashlights," she informs us, grabbing them out of the box and distributing them to Claire, Rousseau and myself. "The lights," Kate says, pointing her flashlight toward the flicker. "I'm going to see if I can turn the power on." She turns to Claire. "You okay?"

"This way," Claire says, walking down the hall. The lights come on and she and Rousseau enter a room, but I start to look around. I find another room and enter it, with Kate behind me now. The room is full of lockers, like the ones in high school. I open on and there's a ton of clothes inside on hangers. Dirty, ragged clothes, like the ones our friend with the beard wore in the jungle. At the bottom of one of the lockers I find a tackle box and I open it. Inside is a bottle of DHARMA Theatrical Glue and a fake beard.

The beard is the exact same as Mr. Friendly's. Next to me Kate is holding a dirty knit cap. WE exchange a look of pure confusion.

"Kate, Tia. Come here, I need some help!" It's Claire, calling from another room. I replace the glue and beard quickly and run towards her voice. She's crouched in front of a refrigerator, whose doors are on the ground.

"What is it?" Kate asks, crouching down beside her.

"It's in here. The vaccine's in here," Claire insists.

"Okay," Kate says, gripping the side of the fridge. "One, two, three."

She and Kate manage to lift the fridge. Claire opens it, but there's nothing inside. "It was in here," Claire insists. "The vaccine was in here! Where it is? The vaccine was in here!" Claire stands and turns to Rousseau. "You were bringing me back here! Where is it? You know where it is, don't you? Tell me where it is! Tell me!" Claire stares at Rousseau, whose face is shocked at Claire's accusations. After a minute, Claire's face softens. "You weren't trying to take me back, were you? You were trying to save me."

"I carried you on my back to your camp. I left you where they would find you." Rousseau says.

"I'm sorry," says Claire. Rousseau starts to leave the room. "Where are you going?"

"You're not the only one who didn't find what they were looking for," Rousseau says.

The three of us follow her out of the medical hatch and back towards our camp. There is little talking. When we're almost back Rousseau stops. "This is as far as I go," she says.

"Your baby," Claire says. "Was it a girl?"

"Yes."

"What was her name?"

"Alex. Alexandra."

"I remember a girl," Claire tells her. "A girl with blue eyes. She helped me. She saved me, just like you did. She wasn't like the others. She was…good."

"I'm sorry that you didn't find what you were looking for," Rousseau says. "And I hope your baby is not infected. But if it is, I hope you know what must be done." Rousseau disappears into the trees.

* * *

Later in the night Jack came to check on the baby. Aaron's fever broke while we were gone and the rash has started to fade. It was just roseola after all. Jack informed me that Mr. Eko knows about Henry in the hatch. He also reminds me not to tell anyone about him. Too many people know already.


	19. Day 60: Mapquest

"I want him gone," Locke whispers to me.

"Then get rid of him."

Locke grabs me by the arm and drags me into the computer room where Henry can't hear us. I yank my arm out of his grip. "Don't ever touch me like that," I warn him.

"Sorry. I just want him gone. He's annoying and condescending—,"

"You're just mad because he's intuitive. Can you really blame him for trying to get inside your head, John? You've got him locked up in the armory."

"Yeah, and now I—,"

"Want him gone, I know. So let him go."

"I can't. I still don't know if he's an Other."

"John, I'm not sure why you're telling me this."

"I want your opinion. Is he lying? How can we figure it out?"

I take a deep breath. "I don't think he's telling the truth about the balloon. Is he an Other? Maybe, but there's no way of knowing for sure. I guess we could get another opinion."

"Maybe Sayid can—,"

"No," I say sternly. "No Sayid. Not again."

"Then who?"

I think hard. Who would be able to tell if Henry was lying? Who knows more about the Others in the camp than anyone else? I think long and hard about my answer before saying it to Locke. "Ana Lucia."

"Ana Lucia? You trust her? After Shannon?"

"Shannon's death was not Ana Lucia's fault. Ana thought she was going to be attacked by the Others. She was tormented by the Others for over a month. She knows how they work, at least more than we do. And she was a cop. That's got to count for something?"

"Fine. Jack should be here soon to take his shift with you. I'll get Ana Lucia. Can you get Jack away from the vault so I can sneak her in without him noticing?"

"He said something about taking a shower. Can you get her down here fast?"

Locke's head jerks to the corridor as the sound of the front door opens. Jack enters from around the corner. "What's going on?" he asks us.

"Nothing, Jack," Locke insists.

Jack looks at us suspiciously. "You two getting along now?"

"Better than ever," I say sarcastically.

"I'm going to the beach. Shouldn't be too long," Locke says, heading towards the corridor and out the front door.

I walk into the living room and fall into the couch, grabbing the book I was reading earlier. _The Winter of Our Discontent_ by John Steinbeck. Hell of a book. Jack has followed me into the room. He nods at the armory door. "He say anything?"

"Nothing unorthodox. Gave him breakfast, took him to the bathroom. Basic day with Henry so far." Jack doesn't say anything, just stands there looking at the door. "Didn't you say you wanted a shower?" I prompt him.

Jack breaks his gaze, looking back at me. "Yeah I did. We have any soap bars left?" I point over to the pantry door where the food was kept before Hurley gave it all away. "Thanks," Jack says.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Jack is in the shower and Locke is back with Ana Lucia. She notices me and my book immediately. "Should've figured you'd know all about this," she says.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You three. You, him, and Jack. You all know everything around here."

"Yeah, well, it's better than being in the dark. You here to meet our friend?"

She nods and Locke turns the dial on the door, unlocking it. Ana steps inside and Locke closes the door behind her. "I'll go tell Jack about this," he volunteers.

"Jack's still in the shower."

"That's fine. I need to shave anyway. The steam will open up my pores," he says, stroking the stubble on his chin, grinning. "Enjoy your book."

I hear nothing of Ana and Henry from the couch. It's kind of unfortunate that Henry can hear everything we say, but we can't hear anything through the vault door.

Twenty minutes later Jack and Locke are in the living room, Jack's hair still wet and Locke's face is bleeding a little near his ear where he nicked it with the razor. Jack looks at me. "So you were in on this?"

"We can't keep him in there forever, Jack."

Jack walks over to the vault door and puts his ear up to it. "I can't hear anything."

"She's only been in there about thirty minutes," Locke says.

"How do you know he hasn't snapped her neck, John?"

"How do you know she hasn't snapped his?"

Jack goes to sit at the dining room table while Locke fiddles with a screwdriver. I continue my Steinbeck. I've barely read two more pages when Ana knocks on the door. "Coming out." Jack gets up from his seat and opens the hatch door. "He told me the same story he told you," Ana informs us, leading the way to the computer room so Henry can't hear us.

"You believe him?" Locke asks.

"I don't know yet. I need more time with him."

Locke gestures to the living room. "He's all yours."

"Tomorrow. I want to give him some time to think." She turns to Jack. "If that's okay with you."

"I didn't tell anyone, Ana."

"No worries, man," she says. She looks at me. "Sayid is looking for you on the beach. He wants your help building some kind of table."

I'm confused. Sayid knows I have a shift today. Why would he ask for me now? I'm about to ask Ana, when she winks at me, her face out or Jack and Locke's sight. What is she up to?

"Okay. Locke," I call into the living room. "Can you take the rest of my shift?"

"Might as well," he calls back. "Have fun."

I follow Ana Lucia out the door. After it's securely closed I turn to her. "What was that about?"

"I got some stuff out of him that you didn't get. I want to show you and Sayid together, though."

I'm confused. "Why us?"

"Because you've both been effected by what they've done. You both deserve answers."

I couldn't agree with her more.

* * *

Sayid is placing long sticks of bamboo together with the help of Charlie, building a table like Ana said. "Sayid, can I talk to you?" she asks, approaching him.

"Of course."

She looks at Charlie. "Alone?"

Sayid looks back at Charlie, then to me, then back at Ana. "Whatever you need to say you can say it here."

"It's about the hatch."

"You mean the guy locked in the closet there?" Charlie asks. "What about him?" I had forgotten Sayid told Charlie the night he beat Henry.

Ana looks at me for the okay. I nod my head and she reaches into her back pocket, pulling out a page to a book. There are pencil markings on it. A map. "It's to his balloon." Ana tells us.

"How did you get him to do this?" Sayid asks, shocked.

"I asked nicely."

"Do Jack and Locke know about this?"

"Jack and Locke are a little too busy worrying about Locke and Jack. All I want to know is if this guy's telling the truth."

"Why come to me?"

Ana looks at him sternly. "Judging from what you did to his face that's what you want, too."

Sayid studies the map. "This is at least a day's walk."

"Then we should get going," Ana says.

* * *

Sayid stops and points. "That cliff there appears to be this," he says, sliding his finger along a sketch of cliffs on the book page map.

"Score one for Henry," Ana says.

"Pointing out a geographical touchstone does not mean he's leading us to a balloon."

"Maybe not, but at least we're on the right island," Ana jokes. Sayid doesn't respond, he just starts walking again.

"Humor's not his strong suit," Charlie say to her. Ana just stares at him. "And I'm saying this to you," Charlie notes sarcastically.

"Let's go guys," I say before Ana decides to sock Charlie in the mouth.

We follow Sayid. Behind me I hear Charlie and Ana bicker. "You looking at my bum?" Charlie asks her. I smile. Ana, checking Charlie out. That's a good one.

"No," Ana says. "I'm looking at your gun."

I whip around fast. How did Charlie get a gun? Sawyer has them all. Well, actually I have a gun, only because I got it from Kate and I refused to give it back to Sawyer. But it's in my pack, hidden beneath some clothes.

"My what?" Charlie says, trying to play dumb.

"Maybe you should give the gun to somebody who knows how to use it," Ana suggests.

"Maybe I will," Charlie challenges. "As I recall, the last time you had a gun you murdered someone."

"Charlie, do I need to remind you what happened last time you had a gun," I say, referring to Ethan.

"That's enough," Sayid says, calming the tension. Charlie pulls the gun out of his pants and makes to give it to Ana. But he just teases her and hands it to me instead. I hand it to Sayid, as I've already got one. "We'll go as far as the base of the cliff and we'll camp there." Sayid says, pointing to the edge.

* * *

Late that night I pretend to be asleep next to Charlie, who snores softly beside me.

"Do you mind?" Ana Lucia whispers to Sayid.

"You should sleep while you can," he says to her.

"Yeah, I can't sleep." She pauses then starts an explanation. "People don't like me. I tried to get them to most of my life. I guess I just gave up a while back. I mean, I am what I am. But you and her," I assume she's talking about me. "You two have a good reason to hate me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did."

"You were trying to protect your people," Sayid says. "It wasn't you that killed Shannon; it was them. And once we find out he is one of them then something will have to be done."

He's never been more right. But that being said, if Henry is lying, I'm terrified of the man I might see my Iraqi friend become.


	20. Day 61: The Real Henry

"Morning!" Charlie exclaims loudly, waking me up. "Who wants breakfast? I have papayas and papayas."

"We need to go," Sayid says. He's putting the shirt he used as a pillow back into his pack. Ana Lucia is smothering the remains of our fire.

"Right, why eat?" Charlie says.

Thunder sounds above me loudly and I look up, startled. The sky is dark gray with overcast. "Let's go, we're not far," Sayid instructs.

We walk through the jungle about another half-mile and the rain starts to pour down hard. Sayid holds the drenched map in front of him, looking at the giant overgrown clearing in front of us.

"This is it," Sayid says. There's nothing here.

"This balloon would be rather large, right?" Charlie asks.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sayid says, putting the map in his pack.

"We need to look some more," Ana insists.

"This is where he said it would be," I say. "The field is empty. There's no balloon."

"If I'm going to back you two up on this, we need to be sure," she says looking between me and Sayid.

"I'll divide the area into four grids, so search as thoroughly as you please," Sayid says, observing the area.

* * *

It seems like we search all day. And the rain doesn't help. It messes with my vision. But I don't think vision is the issue. Henry said his balloon was massive and red, with a large yellow smiley face on top. There's absolutely nothing like that out here.

Ana, Sayid, and I gather in the middle of the clearing. "Maybe he's wrong. We should search the other side of the cliff," Ana suggests, pointing.

"We've been searching for three hours. This balloon does not exist," Sayid says. He turns back toward the trees. "Charlie!" he calls.

"Then why did he draw the map?" Ana counters.

"You told him you would protect him whether we found this balloon or not. You've given him two more days to talk, to figure how to escape. We're done." He turns back to the trees. Charlie!"

"Over here! This way!" we hear Charlie call. I follow his voice with Sayid and Ana behind me. Charlie is standing in front of a grave. Gray stones covering the mound of dirt with a cross sticking out as a headstone. "He said he buried her, right? His wife?" Charlie asks.

Ana rubs her hands together. "Why isn't it raining here?" she asks. She's right, the rain isn't falling on this spot. The ground is humid, but not damp. I hear a heavy sprinkling above me and we all look up. Above us is a giant red, deflated hot air balloon. In the center of the top, a large yellow smiley face is printed there.

"So he wasn't lying," I say in disbelief.

Sayid stares up at the balloon. "I still don't believe him."

"How can you not, Sayid? It's right in front of us," Charlie says.

"If he is one of them, he knows all about this Island. Tia, you said when you met them in the jungle, they knew your names. They know who we are."

"It's a façade," I say. "Kate, Claire, and I went looking for medicine the other day, for the baby—,"

"Is the baby alright?" Charlie asks.

"Charlie, shut up. The baby's fine. But Ethan took Claire to a medical station. She said he was wearing a lab coat. She met a girl there, not dressed in rags like the rest of them."

"What are you saying?" Ana asks.

"I found a fake beard and their dirty clothes on hangers, neatly hung and folded. They're not hillbillies. They're more sophisticated then we give them credit for. They have technology. They're smart. It's a façade!"

"That's a stretch, Tia," Charlie says.

"No it's not! Think about it! They want us to underestimate them. They want us to think that they're stuck here just like we are. That they're savages. But they're not!"

"So this balloon is theirs," Sayid concludes. "They put it here as a cover for Henry to hide behind."

"No, I don't think that's it. Look at the balloon. It's been here for ages. The plants growing through the basket. It's been here more than a couple of weeks."

"So, do you think this is, then," Charlie says, pointing at the grave. "If it's not his wife?"

"Let's find out," Sayid says. "We need to find some kind of shovels."

"Wait, what?" Ana says. "You're gonna dig up this grave?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Sayid asks, heading into the jungle.

"You're gonna let him do this?" Ana says to me.

"It's the only way to know if we're right, Ana."

Sayid is back shortly with wide, hollow sticks of bamboo, the kind we use to dig back at camp. Sayid drops them, keeping one for himself. We start digging.

* * *

It's a deep grave, and it takes a while, but eventually the smell of the rotting body mixes with the smell of the rain and grass. It's even worse because of the balloon above us, blocking out most of the fresh air that could carry away the smell. I hit something solid with my makeshift shovel. That must be the body. Gross.

Ana crawls out of the hole with Charlie, giving Sayid and I more space. We clear the dirt off of it, trying to fight through the smell. I see a hand. An African-American hand. Sayid uncovers his face. "Tia, this face has a beard," he coughs out. "This is not a woman, it's a man."

"So he lied. We were right," I say smugly.

Sayid sticks his hand into the pocket of the body's pants. He pulls out a wallet. "Charlie, Ana Lucia, help us out!" Sayid calls to them. Charlie pulls Sayid out and Ana helps me.

"You guys reek," Charlie informs us. "What did you find?"

"It's male," I tell him and Ana. "Henry lied. We were right."

"What you got there?" Ana asks Sayid.

"That man's wallet," he says, opening it. He pulls out a driver's license and hands it to me. A picture of an African-American man and the name _Henry Gale_ are printed on the Minnesota license. This is not the man we have in the hatch.

"Then there's this," Sayid says, holding a twenty dollar bill. I hand the license to Ana, whose eyes widen. "Jennifer, well, you were right," Sayid says, reading off the note. "Crossing the Pacific isn't easy. I owe you a beer. I'm hiking to one of the beaches to start a signal fire. But if you're reading this I guess I didn't make it. I'm sorry. I love you, Jenny. Always have, always will. Yours, Henry."

"He said his wife's name was Jennifer," I say. "Hold on." I jump back into the hole and the real Henry's body chokes me. I move the dirt off of his face, and examine. "Sayid," I call. "His neck is broken."

Sayid reaches into the hole and helps me out. "They killed him?" Charlie asks. "Why would they do that?"

"This is their Island. They didn't want him here, so they eliminated him," Sayid says, matter-of-factly.

"We have to get back to camp," Ana says. "Tell Jack and Locke. They're gonna be pissed enough that we did this without them."

"They'll get over it," I say. "But we need to re-bury him." I nod to the real Henry. "He didn't deserve what he got."

* * *

It didn't take long to bury Henry's body and soon we were headed back to camp. The sun fell as we got closer and we're about a mile west of the hatch when I notice something in the distance. "Guys, do you see that?" A light is flashing in the distance. We change our direction and head toward it.

I hear a voice that I recognize as Kate's say, "It's food."

We break through the trees. "What the bloody hell is that?" Charlie asks.

Jack ignores his question and walks right up to Sayid. "What did you find?"

I look over at Kate. She looks confused as she doesn't know about Henry. Jack has been keeping her out of the hatch, away from Fake Henry. "We found a lie," Sayid says to Jack. "We found the real Henry Gale's body."

Jack doesn't respond. He just heads toward the hatch. "So you guys have a gun?" he asks as we follow him.

"Sayid has one and so do I. Kate gave it to me. She got it from Sawyer."

Jack opens the door to the hatch and we all pile in. Henry is sitting with Locke on the couch and Locke's leg is propped up on the table, bleeding. Locke let him out?!

"Get away from him!" Jack shouts at Henry, who jumps up in surprise.

"Wait, you don't—,"

Sayid pulls out his gun, pointing it at Henry. "Step back, right now."

"Sayid, it's okay," Locke says.

Henry hasn't moved. Jack advances on him, pushing him away from the injured Locke. "I said, get away!"

"I let him out," Locke tells us. "There was some kind of lockdown or something. He was helping me."

"Couldn't you find my balloon?" Henry asks.

"Yeah, we found it," I say, producing my gun from my pack and pointing it at his head.

"We did find your balloon, Henry Gale," Sayid explains. "Exactly how you described it. We also found the grave you described, your wife's grave. The grave you said you dug with your own bare hands. It was all there. Your whole story, your alibi. It was true. But still I did not believe it to be true. So I dug up that grave and found that there was not a woman inside. There was a man." Sayid reaches into his pocket and throws the driver's license on the ground. "A man named Henry Gale."

"Wait, what is going on here?" Kate asks. She's finally broken.

"I'll fill you in later. Get him in the armory," I say to Jack. Jack pulls Henry by his shirt and tosses him into the small room once again.

I lower my gun. "What happened to you? Why was he out?" I ask Locke.

"The blast doors," Locke says. "The ones that encase the computer room. They came down and I tried to slide under one and get to the room. I got stuck, the door went down on my leg. The button went off and Henry came out to turn it off. The doors came back up and I was freed. Henry helped me over to the couch and you know the rest."

"So what do we do now?" Ana asks.

"We interrogate him again. Get the answers. He will lie, but we may be able to figure out some things," Sayid says. "If we leave him in there too long, he'll come up with a good lie. We need to tie him up."

"Agreed," Jack says. "There's rope in the pantry."

"What about my leg?" Locke asks.

"I'll look at it," I volunteer. "Then I can fill Kate in on all this." She gives me a thankful look.

"I'm gonna head back to the beach," Charlie says. "I'll check out that parachute of food we saw."

"Sounds like we've got a plan," Ana says. "Let's get to it."


	21. Day 62: Bitter Thoughts (With a Payload)

"So, you've just been keeping him down here this whole time?" Kate asks me for the third time.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, Kate, we have. Locked up nice and safe."

"Why didn't you tell anybody?"

"We didn't know for sure if he was one of them. We decided to figure it our first before sending a blood thirsty camp after him."

"And now? Now that you know he is one of them?"

I look her in the eye. "You're here aren't you?"

We hear Locke wince with pain from the bunk bed. I looked at his leg earlier. It's mostly broken. I can't know for sure, but at the very least it's a fracture.

"How are you holding up?" Kate asks.

"Depends on Jack's best guess," Locke answers.

Jack starts wrapping the leg in gauze. "There's a small fracture, probably hairline. This will keep the swelling down until I can get a splint on it."

"Well, isn't Karma a bitch," I say bitterly, referring to Boone's crushed leg.

Locke gives me a bitter look. "How long 'til I can walk on it?"

"You're going to have to keep off it a couple of weeks," Jack says. "There's a wheelchair back at camp—,"

"No! I don't need a wheelchair."

"We took a pair of crutches from the fuselage when we moved down the beach," Kate says. Locke nods okay at her suggestion. "Okay. I'll be back in a while." Kate says, heading for the beach.

Jack and Locke start another conversation, but I make my way over to the armory, who's door is wide open now that we have Henry tied up and held at gunpoint. Ana Lucia watches me from the couch as I go in.

"He was dead already," Henry is saying as I enter. "Four months ago I was part of the search party. Henry Gale was hanging out of the basket, his neck broken."

"So he was already dead?" Sayid asks.

"Yes."

"Then you buried him and left a grave marker?"

"Yes."

Sayid pulls out the Real Henry's twenty dollar bill with his note to Jennifer written on it. "You really should have checked his wallet before you did that. I assume Henry Gale did not have any paper on which to compose his thoughts, so he had to improvise. There wasn't much space for that." Sayid reads Fake Henry the note. When he finishes, he turns to our bound up friend. "So tell me, how did Henry Gale write a note to his wife with a broken neck?"

Gale starts to panic. "It wasn't me. I didn't kill him. You don't understand."

"How did you know his wife's name? Did you interrogate him?"

"Please, just listen. I'm just a—,"

Sayid starts to yell. "How many of you are there?"

"If I told you about them…you have no idea what he'll do."

"He?"

"You mean their leader," I say. "The friendly guy with the beard."

"Him?" Gale asks. "He's no one! Nothing!"

"Where are your people?" Sayid continues.

"I can't—,"

"How many of you are there?!"

"You don't understand!"

Sayid draws his gun and holds it at Gale's head. "Understand this."

"Sayid!" I shout. This wasn't the plan.

"You have three seconds to answer my question. How many of you are there? One…"

"He'll kill me!" Gale pleads.

"I'll kill you." Sayid pulls the slide back on the gun. "Two..."

"Sayid, stop!" I shout a second time. Where is Ana? This is why she stayed outside the door.

"You can't do this! I am not a bad person!" Gale cries.

Sayid gives Gale one last murderous look. "Three."

I jump on Sayid, the same way he did to Shannon the day she held that same nine-millimeter at Locke's head, thrusting his arm to the ceiling.

"Sayid! What the hell? We have a plan! Stick to it!"

"What's going on?" Locke yells from the bedroom. "I heard a gunshot!"

Jack and Ana Lucia enter the armory. "What happened?" Jack asks.

"He's a liar!" Sayid yells in my face.

Ana assess the situation. "It's fine. Let's get him out of here." She and Jack take Sayid out of th small room. I hear Locke yell something from the bedroom, but all I can do is stare at Gale, who's giant blue eyes stare right into mine.

"Thank you," he says.

I look back at him bitterly. "Shut up." I walk out and close the door, locking the vault.

* * *

"We need to tell everyone on the beach," Jack says to us all.

"Tell them what? That we found one of them and kept him locked in a vault with a blanket and book?" I ask. "They're not going to be happy."

"We used discretion, Tia," Locke says from the bed.

"The last time you used your discretion, John, it didn't work out well for some of us," I say bitterly. "We do need to tell everyone, but I'm making a decision. There can't be anymore 'discretion'. No one on the beach trusts us anymore. We can't keep doing this. Keeping secrets from the camp. Every time we do, someone ends up dead or worse."

"No one's died from this, Tia," Jack says to me.

"Not yet," I say.

* * *

Jack, Sayid and I make our way back to the beach and Locke and Ana stay in the hatch with Gale. It's a long afternoon and I'm tried from getting no sleep last night and my big hike over the last two days. Everyone asks me questions, but mostly I see judging faces, silently pleading _why did you keep a secret from me, Tia? Why? _

At my tent, I open the flap and lay down inside, keeping it open in case anyone has more questions.

"Hey, you," a voice says above me. It's Libby.

"Hey yourself."

"I brought you something," she says, dropping a pack beside my head. I sit up and look inside.

DHARMA food galore is inside. Candy bars, oatmeal, bread, a bag of potato crisps. I look back up at Libby. "Is this from the payload we found in the jungle last night?"

"Yeah, the whole camp divvied it up. I grabbed some for you. Figured you'd need comfort food after a long hike in the jungle with Ana. You two are okay now, right?"

"We were never not okay. I like Ana. She's very…intense, but she gets the job done."

"Yeah, you two have been getting a lot of jobs done lately," Libby says. I feel awful for keeping the secret of Henry Gale from everyone, but especially her. After losing Shannon, I thought I wouldn't get close to anyone else on the Island. But Libby kind of took her place.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you—,"

"Don't worry about it. You've got your secrets and I respect that."

"No, you don't understand," I tell her. "I had that attitude once. Boone…"

"He's Shannon's brother?" Libby asks.

"Yeah. He kept a secret from me. And I was okay with it. Then he died." This is the first time I've really talked about it with anyone. The fear I felt when I realized the secrets he kept were what killed him. "I don't make the same mistakes twice. Which is why I'm apologizing to you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Libby. You've been a good friend."

She smiles and places her hand on mine. "Wouldn't it be nice if we could just have a normal afternoon once? No creepy men in hatches, not payloads dropping magic food from the sky…"

"Yeah, normal. That can't be too hard to achieve." I say sarcastically.

Libby stares out into the ocean then says "I kissed Hurley today."

I turn back to her, shocked. "You what?"

"Yeah, I kissed Hurley. He's a nice guy. I really like him."

"That's…That's great Libby!" I say, completely happy for her, no bitter thoughts about being alone for the first time since Boone's death. Libby and I gossip about girl stuff, munching on DHARMA crisps and laughing like a normal pair of friends until well after the sun sets.


	22. Day 63: Forgiveness

"Hi, Sun," I say, walking into the garden. I haven't been here in forever. It's grown so much. Way faster than I thought it would.

"Hello," she says, standing up. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I've been…occupied."

She smiles. "I have to tell you something."

"Shoot," I say, dropping my bag and sitting down.

"I'm pregnant."

My head jolts up to look at her face. She's beaming, her hands on her stomach. I stand right back up. "That's amazing! How do you know?"

"I got a pregnancy test from Sawyer."

I tilt my head. "Who carries a pregnancy test on a plane?" I shake my head. "It doesn't matter. I'm so happy for you Sun."

I hug her and she hugs me back tightly. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but you were gone at the hatch."

We break apart. "Yeah, I guess I've missed a lot around here, sticking myself in that place. I've decided to screw the hatch. I didn't want to open it in the first place, then I spent all of my time there."

Sun smiles. "I'm glad. I've missed you helping me here."

"Then let's get gardening," I say, grabbing one of her shovels.

* * *

Back at camp everyone has turned the center of the beach into a kitchen. There's a giant dining room table, a makeshift pantry of the DHARMA food no one claimed, most of it in metal tins. I head over to my tent to change my clothes now that my jeans are caked with dirt.

"Hey, Tia," Libby calls from outside.

"What's up," I answer, popping my head out.

"Bernard is making a sign."

"A sign?"

"An SOS sign on the beach."

"Um, why?"

"It's the next new idea to get us rescued."

"What does Rose think?"

"I don't think she's into it. Me personally, I think it's a waste of time."

I think about my newfound amount of free time now that I've given up on Henry Gale and the hatch, at least for now.

"Just let him go. If it makes him feel better, then I don't see a problem."

Libby chuckles. "I guess after sixty-three days, idol hands can get to you."

Her comment stops me. "Sixty-three days?" I ask. "Are you sure it's been that long?"

"You've been in the hatch for a while, haven't you? Yeah, it's been sixty-three days."

"Right," I say. "I'm gonna take a nap. I'll see you later." I crawl back inside my tent and grab a piece of paper and do the math.

I'm eight days late on my period. This never happens to me. I'm like a clock. I sit on my cot trying not to panic. Boone and I had sex more than once. The first time…I try to remember. We hadn't even been here for thirty days yet.

I need to talk to someone. Libby? I like Libby a lot, but I don't want her to judge me. Sun? She's so happy right now, I don't want to bum her out. Kate? Ha, yeah right.

* * *

"Claire, can I talk to you?" I say.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

I look around. Most people are at the other end of the beach, helping Bernard with the sign. I turn back to Claire and sit down on the airline chair next to her. "I'm late."

"Late for what?" she looks confused.

"No, Claire, I'm _late_."

Her eyes widen. "Oh, so you and Boone…"

"Yeah."

Her face reddens. "I didn't know."

"We didn't tell anybody. Well, I told Sun. I'm pretty sure she's the only one who knows, though. We didn't even tell Shannon." I hesitate before asking my next question. "Does this make me a bad person?"

"Excuse me?" she asks, snappy.

"Not getting pregnant…if I'm pregnant. It's having the sex. I knew him for less than a month when we did it. And I was just in my tent trying to remember it and I just felt numb."

Claire grabs my hand with her free one, the other holding Aaron. "That doesn't make you a bad person. You loved him, Tia. It's what people in love do."

"Did I love him?" I ask her. "Or was I just infatuated? Everyday bits and pieces of him leave me. So much of him is gone, the memories I had of us. I only knew him for fifty days. How can I have his kid and be unable to tell them anything about their father?"

"Aaron's father was a jerk," Claire says. "Thomas. He was a painter and it was his idea to keep Aaron, then he left me. I was on the plane to give Aaron up for adoption."

My eyes widen. "You were gonna give him away?"

"Yeah, I know. But what I'm saying is that I had sex with a jerk. Does that make me a bad person?"

Claire is one of the best people I've ever met. "No, Claire!"

"I didn't know Boone very well. Most of us didn't. But I did know that he was good. Everything he did was for someone else. I heard him talking to Shannon one night. She didn't understand your relationship and all he could say was that he loved you."

I didn't realize that I had started to cry. Her hand is still on my own. "But what about me?" I ask. "I can't remember everything, and it's not like there's a whole lot to remember."

"Tia, if I tried to remember everything that happens with Aaron, my brain would explode. Time is gonna happen. That's out of your control. When I got back from Ethan and I had no memory, I didn't know either of you. But I saw you two together. It wasn't hard to see that you two were in love."

I feel so much better after getting this stuff out. But there's one more person I need to talk to.

* * *

"Hey, Boone." I'm sitting in front of his grave, which is right beside Shannon's. I feel really stupid. After my mom died, Gran tried to get me to talk to her at the cemetery. I never did. It made me feel silly, talking to cement and grass.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here since…Shannon. And we didn't talk then. I mean, we're not talking now, but…Anyway. I might be pregnant. And after I found out, I was so nervous. And all I wanted was someone to talk to. I went to Claire, but it still wasn't right. No one seemed right. I wanted to talk to you. I miss you, Boone."

I started to remember things. Things I had forgotten through stress and the part of time. I remember being in my tent, Boone's arm around me.

_"I miss pizza," he said. "With all the toppings. Cheese, mushrooms, pepperoni—,"_

_"Oh my god, shut up," I said, my mouth starting to water. "Don't talk about food."_

_He chuckled, then let out a breath. "I'm sorry about ditching you today for Locke."_

_"It's okay. You're here now," I said, turning my head and kissing his chest. _

_"It's not okay. But, yeah, we are here now and there's no place I'd rather be. I never want to leave you, Tia."_

_I moved my head from his chest up to his face. "You don't have to," I whispered, placing my lips against his. _

_Drip, drip, drip._

_Rain started to fall over our heads, but we were shielded by the tent. _

_Boone chuckled again. "I told you the tarp would hold. I can't do much but at least I can keep you out of the rain."_

I jolt back to reality. "Why?" I ask the grave marker. "Why did you leave me? You said you'd never leave!" Tears are streaming down my face and my arms are around my stomach.

At that moment, a gust of wind picked up over the gravesite. I looked up at the sky, wiping the tears out of my eyes. The clouds were black and, like magic rain started to pour down, heavy. But I wasn't getting wet. There is a tree in the graveyard that covers most of the graves from the sun, but not Boone's. But today, the branches on the tree have shifted to cover me from the sudden fall of rain.

I stop crying. I stare at the wooden makeshift cross with his name _Boone Carlyle_ scratched into it, the necklace Boone always wore hanging from the top. I stare at it for so long, the rain passes and I almost don't notice, until the sun breaks through the clouds and covers Boone's grave with sunlight.

I stand up and walk up in front of the grave marker and grab the necklace off of it. It's a simple black adjustable cord with a square talisman hanging off. I put it around my neck, tightening the cord, and look back at the cross. "Thanks for keeping me out of the rain, Boone."

* * *

I took a pee about an hour later and smiled at the red discharge for the first time in my life.

I was so happy. I felt free. No pregnancy, no hatch, no Henry. Nothing at all could take this feeling away from me. I walk along the beach and spot Locke sitting up above the shore. "Shouldn't you be at the hatch?" I ask him, confused.

"The hatch isn't my problem anymore," Locke says. He looks at my neck where Boone's necklace dangles and grins. "You sure do look happy today."

I nod my head and sit down next to him. "I guess I won't see you down in the hatch tomorrow?"

"No, I'll be there. I just won't be pushing that button."

I smile. "I'm proud of you, John."

He fingers the side of Boone's necklace. "I could say the same thing to you. Does thing mean you forgive me now?"

I hold the square talisman of the necklace between two fingers. "Yeah, I guess it does."


	23. Day 64: The Escape

I left my book at the hatch. My Steinbeck novel. So, when midday comes and I start to get bored with all of my new free time, I start the hike over to my least favorite place on the Island.

When I get there, the front door isn't properly shut. I pull it open and walk down the corridor, voices carrying down the hall. Jack, Locke, and Ana Lucia are in the living room. Jack is talking. "Michael's back, though. What happened here?" he nods to Ana's forehead.

"My fault," Locke says from the couch. "I left the tap on in the bathroom sink and Ana wiped out and hit her head on the bathroom counter. And I'm sorry, again."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Ana says.

"Michael's back?" I ask. When did he get here? Where is he?"

"We just got back with him. Kate and I went to talk to his people," he nods at Gale's prison. "But they never showed up, just Michael, passed out."

"Is he okay?"

"Jack, I think he's waking up," I hear Kate say from the bedroom.

Everyone follows Jack into the bedroom, which becomes cramped quickly with six people in it. "Hey, Michael," Jack says, bringing him round.

"Jack?"

"Hey, man."

"Wait a minute," Michael says, disoriented. "How did I get...?"

"Wait, try to take it easy, okay," Jack says, pushing him back into the pillow. "You're back in the hatch. We found you out in the jungle last night."

"Oh, my head," Michael exclaims, grabbing it.

"Welcome back," Locke greets.

"Hey, John," Michael looks at all of us and starts his story. "I found them. After I left I hiked North back to where we were," he's referring to his and Ana's trek from the other side of the Island. "I hiked to the beach, followed the shore line. A day later I saw one."

"What did he look like?" Locke asks.

"He was dirty, worn clothing, no shoes, simple. Just like the rest of them."

"Like the rest of them?" Jack says, confused.

"Yeah, his people, the Others. I followed him back to his camp. They live in tents. Canvas tents and teepees. They eat dried fish. They're worse off than we are."

"How many of them were there?" Kate asks.

"I counted twenty-two."

"What about their boat? The one they were on when they blew up the raft?" I ask.

"I didn't see it."

"Did you see Walt?" Jack asks.

"No," Michael answers, looking down. "But I know he's there."

"What about everyone else they took?" Ana asks him. "Cindy? Did you see any other kids?"

"No, no, no kids, no. But I think they were in the same place as my boy," he pauses then turns back to Jack. "They have a hatch."

"How do you know that they—,"

"There's a set of metal doors leading underground. What else could it be?"

"And you think that's where they're keeping the kids?"

"They keep it guarded 24/7. Two guards, two guns. And two guns is all I saw. They're barely armed. Most of them are old and half of them are women. I wanted—I couldn't save him. So I came back to tell you that we can take them. As soon as I get my strength back, I will take us back there. And we are going to get my boy back."

* * *

Jack and Locke make a plan to get the guns back from Sawyer and Michael sleeps. Ana watches Henry. I passed on everything. I heard Hurley complain the other day to Charlie that he wasn't "in the loop". I hate being in the loop right now. I just want a break. Libby, Claire, Sun, all of my friends that are living in this sweet state of ignorance. I'm so jealous.

"Hey," Kate says, walking up to the couch where I'm sitting. "Mind if I sit?"

"Knock yourself out."

She sits and resumes talking. "Are you alright? You seem kind of…"

"I'm fine, just tired."

Kate smiles. "I know you and I aren't that close, but I consider you a friend, Tia." Wow, this comment shocks me. I had no idea she felt that way.

"You do?"

"Yeah, and if anything's wrong, you know you can tell me, right?"

I've only told Claire, but things like this do need to be talked about. "I had a pregnancy scare yesterday."

Kate looks shocked. "Was it…"

"Boone's? Yeah. But I got my period. I'm okay."

"Oh, thank god! I mean—,"

"No, no, thank god," I agree. I hesitate before telling her the next part. I want it to be just for me, but at the same time, I want someone to tell me I'm not crazy. "I was sitting at Boone's grave yesterday, thinking I was pregnant, and then it started to rain."

"Yeah, I remember."

I tell her about the shifting tree and then the bright sunlight. Kate eyes me with a look that's hard to detect. Pity? I knew I shouldn't have told her. "Tia, trees can move like that."

"But I went back this morning, and it was back to normal, facing away from the grave." This was a bad idea. I should have kept it to myself.

"I saw a horse," Kate says.

"A what?"

"A horse. A large, black horse in the jungle, right after the guys on the raft got back here."

"That's weird. Where did it go?"

"I don't know, but the really weird thing is that I saw the same horse before. The first time I was arrested, right after I'd gone on the run, this horse saved me from the marshal. He stood in front of the car we were in and made it crash."

"I guess we're a pair of crazies, then," I joke.

She laughs and nudges my shoulder. "Jack and Locke are going to get the guns from Sawyer."

"Yeah, we are," Jack says, entering from the computer room. "Kate, can I talk to Tia for a second?"

She looks between us and grins. "Sure. I'll go check on Michael."

Jack sits down on the coffee table. "You were right," he says.

"I usually am," I joke. "But what is it this time?"

Jack nods toward the vault. "About him. When you and Sayid brought him here and Sayid did that stuff to him. You told me that building an army means we're at war. You were right."

"About being at war?"

"About what it takes to be at war." He pauses, then continues. "When we get the guns from Sawyer, I'd like for you to be there. As a peace keeper."

I nod my head. "Sure thing. But when you guys do whatever it is you're gonna do with those guns, I don't want to be a part of it."

"Really?" Jack says, surprised. "You always want to be in the think of the action."

"Hurley calls it 'the loop'. But, yeah, not on this one. I've been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. I need a break."

Jack's face starts to redden. "I heard what you told Kate. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I stand up and slip my boots back on. "Are we ready to go?"

"We need someone to stay here with him," Jack says, motioning to the vault.

"I'll do it," Ana volunteers.

Jack nods his head. "Let's go."

* * *

"Sawyer, put the book down," Jack demands, approaching Sawyer's tent.

"It's not a book, it's a manuscript. I'm about to be the first and only guy to find out who done it. I think I've got it figured out. Cool your damn jets and walk around the coconut trees; I've got, like, ten pages left."

Jack wrenches the manuscript from Sawyer's hands and hold's it on front of him. "Hey!" Sawyer yells, reaching for it.

Jack throws it into the fire at Sawyer's feet. "You want to figure it out?"

Sawyer manages to grab most of the paper out of the flame. "What is your problem, Doc?" he yells in Jack's face.

"It's time to give us the guns back."

"You burn the ending of my book and now you want—,"

"Where are they, James?" Locke cuts in.

"You too, Brutus?" he says, bitterly.

"Just take us there, Sawyer, alright? Quit playing around." Kate says.

"Can it, Freckles." He looks between Kate and myself. "What, did you bring them along for a sympathy vote? Why don't you two just go play in the jungle, huh?"

Jack takes the gun out of his pants, and I follow, drawing mine. "Take us to the guns, now."

Sawyer reaches behind his back and smirks with displeasure. "Ah, that bitch. She stole my damn gun. Ana Lucia."

"Why would she need a gun?" Jack asks.

"Jack, I need to tell you something," Locke says.

"What, John?"

"That bump on Ana Lucia's head? The one I told you was from her hitting the tap in the bathroom? She went to give Henry food this morning and he tried to strangle her. I lied."

"She's gonna kill him," I say.

"Kill who? Who the hell is Henry?" Sawyer asks, confused.

We ignore him. "We need to get back there," Jack says, starting toward the hatch.

"No, wait Jack. Maybe we should let her do it," I suggest, just wanting to be rid of our problem.

"If she does that, then we have no leverage," Locke argues.

"We have no leverage now. You heard him. He's nothing. They'll never trade him for Walt."

"Could someone please explain G.I. Jane's nonsense right now, cause no one is getting anywhere near the guns until you do," Sawyer says.

Kate explains Henry Gale and about how Michael came back to camp last night, filling Sawyer in.

"Ya'll didn't tell anyone about this?" Sawyer asks Locke, Jack, and I.

"No," Jack answers.

"Good. 'Cause I'd have killed him way sooner than this." Sawyer starts walking into the jungle. "Ya'll coming or what?"

* * *

The sun has set completely as we walk to the hatch. "What were you thinking, John?" Jack asks Locke who's still supported by his crutches.

"Jack, leave him alone," Kate says.

"No, Jack, don't leave him alone."

"Shut it, Sawyer," Jack says. "If Ana hadn't lifted your gun we wouldn't—,"

"Well, ain't that swell, Gimpy McCrutch over here covers up that the Artist Formally Known as Henry Gale tried to strangle your little amiga, and suddenly it's on me when she goes vigilante."

"How about you go back to the beach?" Jack tells him.

"Will you two just shut up. This is both of your faults," I say to them.

We've reached the hatch door and as Jack makes to open it, it opens on its own. Michael stumbles out, unable to keep his balance. I shine my light on him and see blood protruding from his bicep.

"Oh my god, Michael!" I exclaim, dropping down beside him to check the wound. I know this kind all too well.

"He shot me," Michael says.

"Who?" Jack asks, holding his light for me as I check Michael's arm.

"He's gone. He ran out."

"Jack, I need—,"

"Yeah, I know, Tia. Let's get him inside first." He bands down to pick up Michael. "You go, I've got him."

"Let me help you." Mr. Eko has arrived, coming out of the trees.

I run inside and for the first time I realize I don't know what Jack did with the medicine. He kept it in the hatch with the guns and the Virgin Mary heroin statues. Then Sawyer raided the supplies. Then Jack won the meds back in a poker game. Where's he keeping them?

I get inside the hatch and the first thing I notice is Ana Lucia's body, laying on the couch, her eyes wide open, a bullet hole in her chest. Kate runs over to check the body. On the other side of the room is a tuft of blonde hair I know all too well. I run over and crouch down over Libby's body. There are discarded blankets around her with bullet holes in them. Two holes protrude her stomach. Her eyes are closed. I hear footsteps and Michael's heavy breathing "She's dead," I hear Kate say.

I make to check Libby's pulse but, _splat_. Libby's eyes open and she coughs out a ton of blood that hits me right in the face, covering the front of my body. Jack is beside me instantly. "Okay, we've got to get her up. We've got to get her to the back room, okay?" I nod and he and I lift Libby as gently as possible and move her to the bedroom.

"She's in shock," I say, noticing the signs in Libby's wide eyes and stiff, unconscious arm movements.

'I know. Here, keep pressure on this," he instructs, holding gauze on her stomach.

"Jack, this is above my skill level. Can you do anything?" he doesn't respond. "Jack?" I ask again, louder this time.

"I heard you," he answers. "Keep pressure on her, okay?" Jack gets up and leaves the room. That's what I call a walk of defeat. There's nothing we can do to save her.


	24. Day 65: Thanksgiving Compromise

Jack and I managed to bandage the wound on Libby's stomach. Eko put Ana Lucia's body in the armory, then went out into the jungle with Locke to find Henry's trail, which is what the rest of us are discussing in the living room right now.

"Where the hell are they?" Jack asks.

"Just calm down," Kate tells him. "Finding his trail in the dark is not going to be easy. They'll be back."

"She say anything?" Michael asks. "Libby?"

"She finally went unconscious," I say. "But the bleeding stopped."

"That's good, right?" Kate asks.

"No, it's not good," answers Jack, shaking his head.

Michael starts "And there's nothing you can—,"

"I can make her comfortable," Jack says, turning to Sawyer. "But I don't have what I need."

"Why are you looking at me? I gave you all the damn meds two days ago—,"

"The heroin, Sawyer."

Sawyer lets out a deep breath. "Give me twenty minutes."

"Kate's going to go with you," Jack demands.

"It doesn't take two people to—,"

"Kate is going with you," he repeats.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asks. "Why would he need me to go with him?"

"Jacko here knows his heroin's in my stash with the guns," Sawyer explains. "So, I can either show you where it's at, or let poor Libby suffer. That pretty much it, Doc?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Let's go, Freckles."

* * *

They return soon, Hurley with them. The look on his face as he enters breaks my heart. It's awful. Did I look like that after Boone died? No wonder everyone wanted to tell me they were sorry. It's the only thing I can think to say to Hurley right now.

I grab Jack a syringe from the medical supplies and he fills one with heroin and inserts it into Libby's arm. Jack leaves and I sit with her as the heroin works through her system, trying to mask the pain.

"Can, can I talk to her?" I turn around and Hurley is standing there, nervously.

"Sure," I say, standing up and exchanging places with him. I know I shouldn't watch them, but I can't help it.

Hurley begins talking and tries to form the words through his shaking voice. "Hey, it's Hurley. Hugo. I'm sorry I forgot the blankets. I'm sorry I forgot the blankets." At that moment Libby's eyes open. This is it, her final struggle for life. "Libby?" Hurley asks, as her eyes bug and she gasps for breath.

I run over and drop down beside her and Hurley. "Michael?" she asks, her eyes wide.

"Michael. He's okay. He made it, Libby. He's okay. He's alright." I tell her.

Her eyes start to lose focus as her breathing becomes even more panicked. Then, like the flick of a light switch, the breathing stops and her body lies still. I reach up and close her eyes, my hand on Hurley's shoulder, trying to comfort him as he cries, his head in his arms, still holding Libby's hand.

I can't help it. The tears flow from my eyes with him, and I sit beside him, letting them fall.

* * *

After everyone recovers from our losses, we gather in the living room to make a plan. Locke and Eko still aren't back yet.

Jack retrieves Michael, who went outside to get some air. He and Sawyer have made stretchers out of thick branches and bed sheets. I'm just finishing covering Ana Lucia's body when Jack and Michael return.

"How many?" Jack asks Sawyer.

"Rifles and pistols? Eleven total."

"That's it?"

"That's it. In case you forgot, they took five of 'em right off us."

"Henry took Ana's, but I still have mine," I say, pulling it from my back pocket.

"And you still don't want to go?" Jack asks me.

I shake my head. "I should probably stay here."

Jack turns to Michael. "How long would it take us to get to their camp?"

"We leave now, move fast? Middle of the night tomorrow. Look, they have no idea I know where they are. They won't be expecting us. So we get the guns and we go. Right now. Just the five of us, with Tia staying behind. That works."

"No, no, five is not enough," Jack protests. "You said there's at least twenty of them. They've got our guns and we're not even sure if what you saw was—,"

"Hey, I know I saw! We take too many people, they'll hear us coming. I'm not taking a damn army across the Island, Jack."

"Michael, you sure you're in the best place to be making decisions for all of us right now?"

"You got a son, Jack?"

"They're dead!" Hurley shouts, a distance from our circle. "Ana Lucia and Libby are dead. I mean, we haven't even buried them yet."

Jack walks over to Hurley and puts his hand on his shoulder. "Me and you will take Libby, okay?" He turns to Kate and I. "Can you?"

"Yeah, of course," Kate says and I nod. Her eyes are swollen and mine probably look the same.

"You should stay here," Jack says to Michael. "We'll bury them tonight, then we'll figure out what's next."

* * *

Kate and I carry Ana's body in front of Hurley and Jack, who carry Libby, all the way to the beach. About halfway there, Jack says he forgot something and turns back, Sawyer talking his place.

We make it to the graveyard, and I try my best to ignore Boone and Shannon's graves as I grab one of our makeshift shovels and start digging Ana's grave with Kate.

I hear other survivors mumble about who could be covered under the blankets, but I ignore them and sink into my own little world, my arms digging like a machine.

Libby is dead. Murdered by a man who I knew in my heart was dangerous and, yet I made no strict effort to get rid of him. I think about Ana, murdered the same way. Two people I was starting to get close to. I really liked Libby and considered her a friend. Ana, less so, but we shared that common thing between solders and cops. I had forgiven her for Shannon's death.

Shannon. Another person I considered my closest friend. My sister, even. Gone from me much too soon.

And Boone…

Was this my fate on the Island? Whenever I got close to someone, they would die?

I decide to take a break, and walk over to the tree line, grabbing a drink of water, then pouring the rest down my back.

I almost don't notice when Hurley sits down beside me. "Hey," he says, his voice shaking slightly.

I want to say I'm sorry for Libby, but I can't bring myself to do that. Not after the resentment I felt towards people who said that after Boone died. "Hey yourself," I say instead.

"Thanks," he says. "Thanks for being a good friend to Libby. I know you two were close and…and she liked you a lot."

I reach over and grab his hand. "I really cared about Libby," I say, struggling to find words other than "I'm sorry".

"This is my fault," he says, his voice cracking.

I turn my head, facing him. "What are you talking about, Hurley?"

"I'm cursed," he says, staring at the sand. "Bad things happen to everyone around me."

"Hurley, I don't—,"

"I was in a psyche ward, in Los Angeles. And there was this guy, Lenny. The whole time I knew him, all he said were these numbers. 'Four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-three, forty-two."

"Hurley, those are the numbers for the hatch button."

"I know, let me finish. When I got out of the psyche ward, I played those numbers for the lottery, and I won. A hundred and fourteen million dollars. And after I won, bad things happened. I was bad luck. My grandpa died. My house caught on fire. I was even mistakenly arrested for dealing drugs. This is my fault. Everything bad that's happened, happened because I was on that plane."

I think about this, hard. "Hurley, I don't think it's you. What if it's me? First Boone, then Shannon, now Libby and Ana. I was very close, or getting very close with all of them and now they're all dead. When I was in the army, I met a guy, and we got close. The first day he kissed me, he was shot right before my eyes. What does that say about me?"

Hurley looks up from the ground for the first time. "Dude, I don't think—,"

"No, it makes sense. And so does your theory. But what if it's all just in our heads? What if it was just in Lenny's too? We can't all be cursed this way. So, logically, none of us are cursed."

"I was starting to think it was all fake. That my bad luck had stopped. Then this happened."

I take a deep breath. "I don't think there's anything I can say to convince you that you're not cursed. You're one of the best people I've ever met, Hurley. And if being your friend, means that I'm cursed along with you, then I don't care." I stand up, and grab my shovel. "Now, let's get back to work."

* * *

It doesn't take long to finish and soon, I'm back ant my tent, changing into clothes better suited for a funeral. When I come back out, Sayid it there, waiting on me.

"What happened?" he demands.

"Henry escaped. Killed Libby and Ana Lucia. Shot Michael in the arm."

"And what are we going to do about that?"

"We are not going to do anything. Michael, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley are going after Walt first thing tomorrow."

"Why them?"

"That's the way Michael wants it to be."

Sayid turns around. "Come with me," he demands.

Normally I would object to being ordered about, but after watching Libby die, I feel too numb inside to protest. He leads me to Jack and Sawyer, the latter carrying a large pack.

"Is it true?" Sayid asks them. "Henry's gone?"

"Yeah," Jack answers.

"Who's going after him?

"Locke and Eko went out in the middle of the night, but…"

"But we haven't seen either of them since," Sawyer says.

Sayid points to the bag in Sawyer's hand. "Those are the guns, aren't they? What are you doing with them?"

"What do you think we're doing?" Sawyer says. "It's time to finish this."

"When do we leave?"

"In the morning."

"You're not coming, Sayid," Jack says to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Michael wants to keep it small. Me, Kate, Hurley, and him." Jack points to Sawyer.

"Yeah, well," Sawyer starts. "Him says even though Pippy Longstocking and the damn Grape Ape are ideal candidates for the Dirty Dozen, I'm just going to say we might just want to bring the Red Beret and G.I. Jane."

"It's Michael's call. He knows where we're going."

"It is not his call, Jack. It's ours," Sayid argues.

Sawyer reaches into his bag and grabs a pistol. "Welcome aboard," he says, handing it to Sayid, who puts it in the butt of his pants. "You still got yours, Brown Eyes?"

"Yeah, but I'm not going," I say.

"Why not?" Sayid asks me.

"Because, I don't want to. It's as simple as that." Jack and Sawyer exchange a look and I wink at Sayid, letting him know I have more to say. After talking to Jack just now, I think I've figured something out.

* * *

"Why did you wink at me?"

"When Libby died, she asked about Michael and this look of terror went over her face. I thought it was because she was dying, but then I realized; why would Henry kill two women, but just shoot Michael in the arm?"

"Are you suggesting Michael killed Libby and Ana Lucia?"

I think about my father, who locked Donny up in a mental hospital instead of getting him real help or just cutting him off completely. He still cared, but couldn't bring himself to give Donny everything he needed.

"A father would do anything for his son."

"So what are we going to do about this?"

"You talk to Michael," I instruct. "Make sure I'm right. Then, if you think the same, we'll talk to Jack and make a new plan."

Sayid nods and heads over to Michael, who's sitting with Vincent at his old tent.

* * *

An hour later, the sun is starting to set and it's time for the funeral. I see Sayid walking with Jack towards the graveyard and I jog over to meet them.

"When the plane crashed I was on my way to Los Angeles to bury my dad," Jack says, noticing me approach.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sayid says.

"Yeah. It seems like such a long time ago now. I was going to go right from the airport to the cemetery but I had no idea what I was going to say. Here we are again."

"If you want me to talk instead, I will. I know what I want to say," I offer.

Jack nods. "Thanks."

"We think Michael has been compromised," Sayid says. Jack stops but Sayid and I continue walking. "Keep walking, Jack," Sayid instructs.

"What do you mean 'compromised'?"

"His actions are not those of a man who is telling the truth," Sayid says. "Tia first spotted this, then I confirmed her theory."

"Why would he lie to us?"

"Because I believe a father would do anything for his son. Because I believe Michael may have freed Henry. And because I believe he is leading you into a trap."

"You believe a lot, Sayid."

"I also believe that Henry was one of them."

"Alright, let's go talk to him," Jack says.

"No, he must continue to believe he's in control. "

"Why the hell would we want to do that?"

"So we can create an advantage."

"How?"

"I don't know yet."

"But, lucky for us, we have one more night to figure that out," I say.

By now we've reached the graves. Hurley and Kate have placed Ana and Libby inside. As the last of the camp makes their way to the site, I step forward.

"Ana Lucia Cortez was a police officer before we crashed. A lot of us did not trust her when we first met her, because of her actions." I pause and glance at Shannon's grave, right beside her's before continuing. "But she was a good person. She was loyal to her people. She put her own safety above others to protect them instead. I once heard her say that people didn't like her. And that she spent most of her life trying to get them to. But I liked her. And I never held her mistakes against her. Rest in peace, Ana," I finish. Jack looks at me and nods his head in thanks.

Hurley begins to talk. "Libby was…she was…Libby was a psychologist, or psychiatrist. One of those. Either way, she probably helped a lot of people. She helped me. She was my friend. It's not fair that this happened to her. It's not." Hurley turns to Michael. "I'm going with you," he says, before turning back to his friend's grave. "Goodbye, Libby."

There is a moment of silence for our fallen comrades. A tear trickles down my face and I feel Sayid grab my hand and squeeze it. I squeeze back in thanks for his comfort.

The silence doesn't last long when Sun breaks it. "Boat," she says. My head shoots up, facing her. She's looking out into the ocean and I follow her gaze. "Boat!" she cries.

Out in the ocean, a large sailboat skims the surface of the water, the name _Elizabeth_ etched across the bottom.

I run to the shoreline, following Jack, Sawyer, and Sayid. Jack starts removing his shoes and socks, and Sawyer and Sayid follow his example. I feel the cold metal of my glock in the butt of my jeans and decide, since I'm packing, to follow them. I strip off my shoes and Jack looks at me. "You gonna tell me to stay behind?" I ask.

He starts securing his gun in the butt of his jeans. "I've learned that doesn't do me much good," he says, making for the water.

Sayid, Sawyer and I follow diving in. The swim out to the boat is a long one. But we reach it soon enough and the men enter first, Sawyer helping me up last. I pull my gun out of my pants, cocking a round into the chamber. I can hear opera music below my feet. Jack makes for the hull door that leads below deck but we hear gun shots from below, bullets flying out from the wood.

"Dammit," a voice says from inside. It's vaguely familiar, but I can't place it. Jack kicks the door open with his bare foot pointing his gun inside. Sawyer, Sayid, and I follow, pointing our guns. Inside is a face I did not expect to see.

Desmond, the man from the hatch is sitting inside, a rifle in his lap and a bottle of tequila in his hand. Jack and I lower our guns, but Sawyer and Sayid keep theirs drawn and I remember that they have never met Desmond.

"You," Desmond says, looking at Jack.

* * *

By nightfall we managed to get Desmond back to shore on a dingy boat from the sailboat. Desmond is completely wasted from the tequila, but apparently not enough, as he grabs a bottle of whiskey from his bag and sits beside a fire, taking sips of it throughout the night.

I make him a plate of food, deciding that he should eat something and stop drinking. I bring it over to him squatting down, but he waves me off, taking another drink of his whiskey. I set it down beside him. "Why didn't you mention you had a sailboat?" I ask. He ignores me. "Yeah, I guess I know the answer to that one. But how about this? Why did you some back? Feeling guilty?"

He chuckles. "Do you think I did it on purpose? I was sailing for two and half weeks, bearing due West and making nine knots. I should have been in Fiji in less than a week. But the first piece of land I saw wasn't Fiji, was it? No. No, it was here—this, this island. And you know why? Because this is it. This is all there is left. This ocean and this place here. We are stuck in a bloody snow globe! There's no outside world! There's no escape! So, just go away, huh. Let me drink."

I eye him for a few more seconds and Sayid and Jack stand off to the side, Sayid holding a torch, waiting on me. I get up and approach them, but Desmond has one more thing to say.

"You still pushing it?"

I sigh. "Yeah, we're still pushing it."

As I approach Sayid and Jack Sayid turns to the latter. "On the way to the funeral I told you that Michael had been compromised by the Others, and then you asked me how we might take advantage of that. I believe fate has given us our answer—the boat."

"The boat?" Jack asks, confused.

"This camp Michael is leading you to across the Island—that is where they will set their trap. While Michael leads you by land, Tia and I can approach far more quickly by sea. And we can go ashore undetected."

"Go ashore and do what?"

"Scout them—their numbers and positions, their weapons. Then I'll go to the nearest beach and start a signal fire with these." Sayid holds up some dark brown leaves. "They burn with a dark, black smoke. You and your team will come to meet me at the signal and we will go in together."

"We're not even sure if Michael's been turned by them," Jack says, nervously.

"He has been turned," Sayid insists.

"I'll have to tell Kate, and Hurley and Sawyer what we're doing."

"No. Michael cannot sense we know he is lying. All we have is the element of surprise, Jack. Right now it's only your responsibility to keep it secret."

Jack looks at the leaves in Sayid's hand. "Black smoke, huh?"

Sayid grins. "This time they will know that we are coming."

Jack agrees and leaves us. I turn to Sayid. "I told you that I didn't want to come."

Sayid looks confused. "I don't understand. I thought that was because you believed Michael was not telling the truth."

"No, it's because I'm trying to distance myself," I say, deciding to confide in him. If I can't trust Sayid, who can I trust? "Boone, Shannon, Libby…They're all dead. What if that's because of me?"

Sayid's confused look doesn't leave. "Why would you think this?"

"My past, things that have happened to me." I tell him about Rory Gibbs and my mother. How distancing myself from Donny and Gil was better for them than staying close. How the people I've hated have always come out on top, like my father. Sayid doesn't look convinced.

"You cannot distance yourself from the world to keep people safe. All it does is make you an outcast."

I smile bitterly. "We're all outcasts here, Sayid."

He grabs my hand. "You are not an outcast to me. You have never been. All I have ever seen you as is my friend. You are the one person on this Island I trust completely." He squeezes my hand. "If you do not wish to go, that is fine, but—,"

I throw my arms around his shoulders. This is all I wanted to hear. That there was someone in my life that I cared about that wanted me there. Sayid's body is stiff with surprise for a moment, but then he relaxes and holds me. "I'll go with you," I say. "But I hope you know how to sail, because I have no clue."

He smiles. "We'll figure that out in the morning. We should get some sleep tonight while we can."

"Did you know today is Thanksgiving?" I ask.

"What is Thanksgiving?"

"Oh, right, you're form Iraq. It's an American holiday. Basically we cook a bunch of food and celebrate what we're thankful for in life."

"And what are you thankful for, Tia?"

"Right now, the same as you. That I have someone to trust," I answer, squeezing my friend's hand.


	25. Day 66: Look Who's Coming Along

The next morning, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer take off with Michael. I told Sayid that I'd handle Desmond. I see him pulling the dingy out of the water, a pack full of what I assume is more booze sitting inside.

I run up and help him pull the dingy out of the water. "I need your sailboat," I say to him.

"I wouldn't waste your time. There's nothing out there, sister."

"I'm not trying to leave the Island. I need to get to the North shore of it, and quickly."

"Going to see the hostiles, are you?"

"The who? What are you talking about?"

"You know what, ignorance is bliss. The boat's all yours, sister, for all the good it'll do you."

I stand up straight, my next question the harder of the two. "I don't know how to sail," I say. "Maybe you could—,"

"Then I suggest you find someone who does," he says, cutting me off.

Damn it.

* * *

"What did he say?"

"He won't do it," I tell Sayid. "And frankly, I don't think we want him to. He's plastered. Probably has been for days."

"Is there anyone else in the group who knows how to sail?"

"I can only think of one," I say. "But I don't' want to make him do it again."

"You mean Jin."

I nod my head yes. "But Sun won't allow it. She won't want him to leave her again, and I can't ask her to go through with that, not while she's pregnant."

"Then I will," Sayid says.

* * *

"Sun says she will get him to agree," Sayid informs me. "We should get ready."

We start loading the dingy. "Hand me your gun," Sayid says.

"Why?" I ask, reaching around for it and pulling it out of my pants.

"I do not want to alarm Sun. I want her to believe this is safe."

"Sayid, you can't deceive her like that!" I say, pulling my gun back. "It's not right! She's pregnant and—,"

"I'm sorry, Tia, but what do you know about this particular subject?"

"I had a pregnancy scare a few days ago," I tell him. "So, yeah, I know a lot about wanting your guy there when he can't be."

Sayid looks at me, shocked. "I did not know."

"I'm aware. I didn't tell a lot of people. Just Kate, Claire, and Jack."

"And you're not…"

"No, I'm not." I confirm for him.

He nods his head. "All the same. She is pregnant, and I don't want to alarm her."

I see her and Jin walking down the shore of the beach, both wearing packs. I can tell she means to come along. Good for her. "Fair enough," I say, handing Sayid my glock. He hides it with his own, under the tarp.

Sayid turns around and notices her pack. "I'm sorry if what I said was confusing, but I asked Jin to come."

"You need someone to translate," she says. "And you need at least two people who know how to sail."

"Desmond managed by himself."

"And look where he ended up," she points out. Oh, I love Sun so much.

Sayid looks at Jin, who shrugs his shoulders. I smile and remove my own pack, full of water and a change of clothes, and place it in the dingy. "Let's get going," I say, climbing into the dingy. Sun crawls in and Sayid and Jin push us into the water, then jump in themselves, heading out to the sailboat in the distance.


	26. Flashback: Donny

January 2002. Los Angeles, California

"Donny?" I asked.

He was sitting in a chair, at a table next to a man who was muttering something under his breath, the two playing Connect Four. Donny looked up from the game. "Tia?" His beard was overgrown and he'd put on some weight. Donny was always stocky, the complete opposite of Gil and I. We're long and lanky. But Donny and Gil shared our father's red hair, while I had inherited our mother's darker skin and curly brown hair. Donny looked so much like Dad, with the beard and the matching features. The only thing that was different were Donny's brown eyes, the same as Mom's. The same as mine.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me.

"I came to see you," I said, sitting in the empty chair between him and the man playing Connect Four. I made out his mumbling. "Four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-three, forty-two. Four, eight…"

I ignored the man. "How are you?" I asked. "The woman up front said you were doing well."

Donny stares at me for a few moments, then stands. "Come with me," he said, walking out of the room. I get up and follow, and we passed a table where a woman was sitting with her head in her arms. "Hey, Libby," he said to her, but she didn't respond.

I follow Donny out a door and outside to a large, open, grassy area. He sat down at a picnic table and I sat across from him. "Dad said you wouldn't be coming here," he said, staring at his hands.

I smiled as I placed my own on top of his. "Did you really think Dad could keep me away from my big brother?"

He pulled his hands out of my grip. "You shouldn't be here, Tia."

"Why not? Don't you want to see me?"

"Not like this," he said, stroking his arms, covered by the sleeves of a bathrobe. "I didn't want you to see me like this."

I smiled. "Donny, I've seen you way worse than this. At least here you can get better."

"I'm not crazy," Donny said, looking at me for the first time. "Did he tell you I was crazy?"

"Who? Dad? He never said you were crazy. He said you needed help."

"How's Gil?"

"I don't know. I'm headed back to Sacramento at the end of the week to check on him."

"What about school? You love school!"

"You and Gil are more important than school," I said to him.

"You always did that, you know."

"Always did what?"

"Always put us before yourself. Ever since Mom died, you acted like your life was meaningless. Like Gil and I were the only people that mattered. Then you went off to school and I thought you'd be okay. That for the first time since Mom, you'd be able to do your own thing. Get away from Dad. But here you are, back to where you started."

"Donny, it's not like that. I can't go to school anymore. He cut me off. I can't afford classes anymore."

"Then you need to find a way to pay for it. A way that lets you move on with your life instead of playing mom to me and Gil. You've got to let it go."

I looked into my elder brother's eyes for the last time that day. "I guess I better get looking then."


	27. Day 67: Purple Light After Black Smoke

There wasn't much we could do in the dark, so we mostly spend the night getting our bearings around the boat. I'd never really been good in the water. I'd never actually puked like Sun was doing now, even though her vomiting wasn't sea sickness. But I always tended to get a little dizzy, being in the water.

"Are you alright?" Sayid asks me as I hold on to the mast.

"I'll be fine. Just got to keep my eye on the horizon."

"I'm going to have to ask you to look away from that for a moment," he says, holding out a pair of binoculars. "Look over at the Island."

I turn around and see something large and pale by the cost. I hold the binoculars up to my eyes. It's a giant statue of a foot. That's it. Just a foot. The top of the statue is clearly broken. I pull down the binoculars and notice Sun beside me. I hand them to her and she looks.

"I don't know what is more disquieting," Sayid says. "The fact that the rest of the statue is missing, or that it has four toes?"

Four toes? I grab the binoculars back from Sun and look again. Yup, only four giant toes, probably taller than me. Whatever this statue once was, it was massive.

* * *

I'd always been fascinated by religions of other cultures. Having lived in Afghanistan and treating prisoners, I saw a lot of Muslim prayer. It's a fascinating thing, their religion. After 9/11, when I was still in college, a debate was brought up in my history class. Why would the Muslims attack the United States?

It wasn't the Muslims. It was the Taliban. And they didn't attack the United States, they attacked Christians.

Isaac and Ishmael, sons of Abraham, who were flesh and blood, separated forever due to circumstances that have been studied since not long after the beginning of Creation. They both came from the same God, yet after thousands of years, people on both sides have seem to forgotten this.

Islam, after I educated myself, started to seem like the better practice in my mind. One built on five pillars that included prayer and charity. I look at my friend, his head repeatedly bowing to the East, toward Mecca, praying to Allah, the same God that Christians pray to.

I decided in the army to give up on religion. That it was a pointless endeavor that causes so much strife to those who practice it. There were solders in the army that would abuse Arab prisoners when they prayed, but not me. I let them do it because I was not a hypocrite. And to this day, I am still fascinated by it as I watch Sayid bow his head and mumble his prayer in a language I have heard so much, but have never understood.

"Sayid," Jin calls, bringing me out of my trance and Sayid out of his prayer. "Here," he says, handing Sayid the binoculars and pointing to the land.

I squint my eyes and make out a large jumble of rocks in the distance, shaped like a square with a hole in the center. "That's the rock Michael described," Sayid informs us. "We're here."

We circle the boat around to the edge of the rocky cliff so that they won't see us coming. We drop anchor and put the dingy in the water. "Stay here," Sayid instructs me as I start to climb out.

I smile at him. "It doesn't work when Jack tells me to, it's not going to work when you do." I drop down into the dingy, happy to be off than damn sailboat. Sayid drops down beside me. Sun and Jin stay on the boat, manning it. Sayid paddles us to the edge of the cliffs and we climb our way across.

He helps me up as we reach the edge of their camp. I hear nothing but the waves of the sea against the rock. I peek over and see the canvas tents that Michael described. I pull my gun out of my pants. Sayid hands me another that I tuck back there. He holds a rifle and another glock in his pants. He motions for me to follow behind him and I do.

We walk up to a tent. There is no one in sight. Inside there is nothing. No beds, no cases to hold things. I glance around and spot a set of metal doors against the cliff. "Psst," I say to Sayid and motion towards it with my gun. He nods, leading the way again, holding his rifle. We get there and he opens the doors quickly, redrawing his gun.

There's nothing there. Just the cliff. I grab one of the metal doors. The DHARMA logo is there, but instead of the swan that I've become used to, there's a picture of a door there instead. I turn to Sayid. "I think I was right," I say. "This place is a decoy. The fake beard and makeup and costumes Kate and I found at that medical station. It's all a trick. This is some kind of decoy village."

"I think you are right," He says to me, looking over the camp once more. "We should get back to Sun and Jin. It's time to let Jack know where we are."

* * *

It doesn't take long to light the fire with the leaves. Sayid chooses a stretch of beach just over the cliff of the fake village.

"You sure they'll be able to see this?" I ask, throwing a match onto the leaves and wood, starting the fire which turns dark and black almost instantly.

"Yes, I am sure."

"And then what? They come here, with Michael in tow and we interrogate him?" Sayid looks up from the fire. "Admit it, Sayid. You don't have a plan."

"I'm working on it. The Others will soon see the smoke, alerting them of our whereabouts."

"Again, I ask then what? You and me, Jin and his pregnant wife. I'm sure Jin is capable, but we only have four guns. How many people do you think they'll bring?"

He looks out into the ocean. "We'll stay on the boat. That way we will have an advantage through with the water."

I drop another log onto the fire. "Fine, I'll go along with it. But, Sayid, you know this will never work."

"I had a feeling when we came out here that it might not."

"But you dragged me along anyway? I didn't even want to come."

Sayid grabs his rifle off the ground. "We need to get back to the boat. The fire is big enough. It will burn for at least a day."

I give up my arguing and walk back over to the dingy. We row back to the boat where Jin helps us up as Sun upchucks over the side of the sailboat. I thank the heavens for the thousandth time that I wasn't actually pregnant. I could never handle morning sickness.

A few hours pass and there's no sign of Jack and his crew. I sit down next to Sayid, who is conversing with Sun and Jin, to voice my concerns of this when a loud noise sounds from the sky.

It's like nothing I've ever experienced. The noise is so loud, I cover my ears and hard as I can with both hands trying to douse the noise, but it makes no difference. The ocean all around me starts to vibrate with the noise and the boat feels like a bag of popcorn in the microwave. I look above me and the sky turns a strange purple shade, covering the clear blue it was before.

It stops almost instantly, the noise dying down and the sky returning to its normal blue. I look between Sun, Jin, and Sayid who look as confused as I feel.

"What the hell was that?" I yell, my ears still not adjusted to the normal frequency.

* * *

**LOST**

* * *

**Thanks for finishing book two! a big thanks to those of you who've stuck it out this far. I'm glad you're enjoying yourselves enough to keep trekking along with Tia. Feel free to shoot a review anytime! I welcome all comments, questions, critiques, and concerns. **

**Book Three coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled!**


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